Side-handed

adj, adv, verb

adj, adv, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of side-hand form-of, participle, past
Adjective
  1. 1
    Sideways from the hand. not-comparable

    "Lightning drew in on his tail and I gave my lariat a side-handed pitch."

  2. 2
    Done with the side of the hand. not-comparable

    "Mallory tensed, and as the policeman passed the door, he stepped out, brought his hand over and down in a side-handed blow to the base of the neck that had every ounce of power in his shoulders behind it."

  3. 3
    Indirect; subtle. not-comparable

    "When she appeared again, she made some side-handed inquiries regarding Otto (with that gentle artifice oft employed by women); but he was gone."

  4. 4
    Expanding. UK, not-comparable

    "... with side-handed or expanding batons, so as to provide police officers with better protection against assaults by criminals."

Adverb
  1. 1
    Sideways. not-comparable

    "Wading upstream, it was obvious I would have to cast side-handed and under-handed, with an occasional bow-and-arrow "shot.""

  2. 2
    Using the side of the hand. not-comparable

    "As the gunman spluttered, Towler continued the momentum of his hand to catch the man side-handed in the windpipe and, with his other hand, struck him hard in the crotch."

Example

More examples

"Lightning drew in on his tail and I gave my lariat a side-handed pitch."

Etymology

From side + handed.

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