Behandle

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To handle all about; take (up) in one's hands; care for; deal with; treat. transitive

    "In England I know a household where, after the eight o'clock breakfast, it is usual to behandle one's skeins, find one's knitting, and continue the long even rounds of the stocking begun yesterday, or copy patiently the completed gusset in the sleeve of a spencer."

Example

More examples

"In England I know a household where, after the eight o'clock breakfast, it is usual to behandle one's skeins, find one's knitting, and continue the long even rounds of the stocking begun yesterday, or copy patiently the completed gusset in the sleeve of a spencer."

Etymology

From be- + handle. Cognate with Saterland Frisian behondelje (“to handle, deal with, treat”), Dutch behandelen (“to handle, treat”), German behandeln (“to treat”), Norwegian behandle (“to treat”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.