Weak-handed
adj, adv ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Having or involving hands that are weak or infirm.
"He also had a son named Dave who thought milking a pretty tough job, and who imagined he was getting weak-handed and on the way to milker's paralysis."
- 2 Weak; lacking courage and strength. broadly
"It is true there is much to be done, and perhaps you are weak-handed; but stick to it steadily, and you will see great effects."
- 3 Understaffed obsolete
"With this heroic resolution, he put himself into the hands of the Zamorin with a retinue of only twelve men, being unwilling to leave the ships weak-handed for the sake of an unavailing and empty parade of attendance."
- 4 Poor; impoverished. obsolete
"Should he be weak-handed (poor), he is compelled to be content with what is termed girdling, which consists in cutting the bark, thereby, of course, killing the trees, and he afterwards clears away the underwood, which is seldom considerable."
- 1 With gun held in hands that are not braced to strengthen the grip.
"Its cold hammer-forged barrel is beyond accurate, and the ergonomic grip is all it takes to stay steady in awkward shooting positions or when shooting weak-handed."
- 2 In a weak-handed manner.
"Beginning there weak-handed is not the thing to do."
Example
More examples"He also had a son named Dave who thought milking a pretty tough job, and who imagined he was getting weak-handed and on the way to milker's paralysis."
Etymology
From weak + handed.
Related phrases
More for "weak-handed"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.