Ready-handed
adj, adv ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Capable or skillful, especially at manual tasks. archaic
"Abdul Kader, the tailor who had attached himself to me, as a man ready-handed at all things, from mending a pair of pants, making a delicate entremets, or shooting an elephant, but whom the interior proved to be the weakliest of the weakly, unfit for anything except eating and drinking — almost succumbed on this march."
- 1 In readiness, fully prepared. archaic
"Higher education— general, professional, and technical— whether under public or private auspices must be helped to grow both in quantity and quality until it is able to meet full and ready-handed the problem of training the leadership of our democracy."
Example
More examples"Abdul Kader, the tailor who had attached himself to me, as a man ready-handed at all things, from mending a pair of pants, making a delicate entremets, or shooting an elephant, but whom the interior proved to be the weakliest of the weakly, unfit for anything except eating and drinking — almost succumbed on this march."
Etymology
From ready + handed.
Related phrases
More for "ready-handed"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.