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Webster 1913 Edition
Ambidexter
Am′bi-dex′ter
,Adj.
[LL., fr. L.
ambo
both + dexter
right, dextra
(sc. manus
) the right hand.] Using both hands with equal ease.
Smollett.
Amˊbi-dex′ter
,Noun.
1.
A person who uses both hands with equal facility.
2.
Hence: A double-dealer; one equally ready to act on either side in party disputes.
The rest are hypocrites,
ambidexters
, so many turning pictures – a lion on one side, a lamb on the other. Burton.
3.
(Law)
A juror who takes money from both parties for giving his verdict.
Cowell.
Webster 1828 Edition
Ambidexter
AM'BIDEXTER
,Noun.
1.
A person who uses both hands with equal facility.2.
A double dealer; one equally ready to act on either side in party disputes. [This sense is used in ludicrous language.]3.
In law, a juror who takes money of both parties, for giving his verdict; an embracer.Definition 2024
ambidexter
ambidexter
English
Noun
ambidexter (plural ambidexters)
- Someone who is ambidextrous.
- (archaic, slang) A lawyer who takes fees from both plaintiff and defendant.
- (by extension) Someone who is two-faced; a double-dealer.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.65:
- One takes upon him temperence, holiness […], whenas indeed he, and he, and he, and the rest are hypocrites, ambidexters, outsides, so many turning pictures, a lion on one side, a lamb on the other.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.65:
Adjective
ambidexter (not comparable)
- ambidextrous
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Smollett to this entry?)
See also
Dutch
Pronunciation
Noun
ambidexter (used only predicatively, comparative meer ambidexter, superlative meest ambidexter)