What does "cross-handed" mean?

Done with hands or forearms crossed over each other.

Cross-handed

adj, adv

adj, adv ·Rare ·Advanced level

Adjective

1
Done with hands or forearms crossed over each other. not-comparable
"The cross-handed grip helps in maintaining the wrist position."
2
Done by crossing the hand to the other side of the body. not-comparable
"I wonder how it would be to stand right in the beginning of the fast water, at the lip of the pool, and try a cross-handed cast."
3
Involving two opposing directions. not-comparable
"Appreciable scattering of cross-handed radiation occurred in the middle of the band, leaving regions near the long- and short-wavelength band edges in which scattering of cross-handed radiation was negligible."
4
Back-handed. not-comparable, obsolete
"We believe and are thoroughly convinced that God's blessings come to his church in a cross-handed way, entirely different, in many instances, from the way we expect them."

Adverb

1
With hands or forearms crossed over each other. not-comparable
"Both Arnold Palmer and Gary Player have been quoted as saying that if they could change one thing about their games, they would have putted cross-handed early in their career."
2
While crossing the hand to the other side of the body. not-comparable
"Joe got them to rig him a holster so he could draw the .45 cross-handed."
3
In two opposing directions. not-comparable
"The merchant fishermen at the falls acted as middlemen or factors, and passed the objects of traffic, as it were, cross-handed; trading away part of the wares received from the mountain tribes to those of the rivers and plains, and vice versa: […]"
4
Facing forward and pushing the oars away from the body on the power stroke (rather than facing backward and pulling the oars on the power stroke). not-comparable
"Just then, a sailor, who had crossed the channel, and was making rapid headway, by rowing cross-handed, emerged from behind a merchant vessel which was moored at the wharf."
5
Idly. not-comparable
"Why do we sit cross-handed and do nothing which would serve as a basis upon which to build the salvation of our people?"

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6
Back-handedly. not-comparable, obsolete
"..the end has been answered, though the channel of conveyance has been in direct opposition to what I wanted or expected, like as Jacob in blessing Joseph's sons, he wittingly—ah it is wittingly indeed, we are blessed; namely, cross-handed."

"The cross-handed grip helps in maintaining the wrist position."

From cross + handed.

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