White-handed
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Having hands that are white.
"As exemplified by the white-handed gibbon, the commonest and best-studied member of the group, they show a remarkable convergence in social behavior to the dusky titi and other monogamous New World primates."
- 2 Characterized by delicacy and a pale-skinned beauty.
"He was one of the miserable little pretty white-handed, curly-headed boys, petted and pampered by some of the big fellows, who wrote their verses for them, taught them to drink and use bad language, and did all they could to spoil them for everything in this world and the next."
- 3 Aristocratic, with connotations of effeminacy and foppishness.
"If you want to know more particularly how he looked, call to your remembrance some tawny-whiskered, brown-locked, clear-complexioned young Englishman whom you have met with in a foreign town, and been proud of as a fellow-countryman—well-washed, high-bred, white-handed, yet looking as if he could deliver well from 'the left shoulder and floor his man: I will not be so much a tailor as to trouble your imagination with the difference of costume, and insist on the striped waistcoat, long-tailed coat, and low top-boots."
- 4 From the professional classes; With hands that are not brown from manual labor.
"Among the successful there were scarcely any of the head-working, white-handed class, but a number of hard-working, frugal men, who, landing without a penny,..."
- 5 Benevolent or virtuous.
"O welcome, pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope, Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings!"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"As exemplified by the white-handed gibbon, the commonest and best-studied member of the group, they show a remarkable convergence in social behavior to the dusky titi and other monogamous New World primates."
Etymology
From white + handed.
More for "white-handed"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.