Handshaker
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 One who gives a handshake.
"A potentially great statesman is not likely to be by natural inclination an enthusiastic, grinning, and indefatigable handshaker, babykisser and small-talkie walkie; yet, no one who is not an enthusiastic, grinning, and indefatigable handshaker, babykisser and small-talkie walkie can become a great statesman, if it is up to the man in the street, the man on the road, the man on the dirt road, and the man in the blind alley — the electorate, in short."
- 2 A deceitful person, a swindler. US, slang
Example
More examples"A potentially great statesman is not likely to be by natural inclination an enthusiastic, grinning, and indefatigable handshaker, babykisser and small-talkie walkie; yet, no one who is not an enthusiastic, grinning, and indefatigable handshaker, babykisser and small-talkie walkie can become a great statesman, if it is up to the man in the street, the man on the road, the man on the dirt road, and the man in the blind alley — the electorate, in short."
Etymology
From hand + shaker.
More for "handshaker"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.