Manhandle

//ˈmænˌhæn.dəl// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To move something heavy by force of men, without aid of levers, pulleys, machine, or tackles. transitive

    "I see him—Tom—on horse-block standing, Trumpet at mouth, thrown up all amain, An elephant's bugle, vociferous demanding Of topmen aloft in the hurricane of rain, "Letting that sail there your faces flog? Manhandle it, men, and you'll get the good grog!""

  2. 2
    handle roughly wordnet
  3. 3
    To assault or beat up a person. transitive

    "The polls were guarded by bullies who did not hesitate at command to manhandle any decent citizen indicated by the local leaders."

  4. 4
    To mishandle; to handle roughly; to mangle. transitive

    "She yells at people who manhandle the tomatoes or break the beans."

  5. 5
    To control (a machine, vehicle, situation, etc.) by means of physical strength. transitive

    "Riders who succeed on this terrain are able to manhandle their bike as it rattles over the bumps."

Synonyms

All synonyms
maltreatmistreatrough upabusebatterbear

Example

More examples

"I see him—Tom—on horse-block standing, Trumpet at mouth, thrown up all amain, An elephant's bugle, vociferous demanding Of topmen aloft in the hurricane of rain, "Letting that sail there your faces flog? Manhandle it, men, and you'll get the good grog!""

Etymology

From Middle English manne-handlen, man handelen, equivalent to man (“male person”) + handle.

Related phrases

beat up

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