handcuff

[An adaptation of Mid. Eng. hand cofs; A. S. handcofs, by confusion with Mid. Eng. coffes cuffs. Usually in the plural, handcuffs.] A chain and locking-rings; a strap-or other fastening for the hands. hand-cuff, v. t. [HANDCUFF, 8.] 1. Lit .: To confine the hands with handcuffs; to IMG:content-0953.png:[blocks in formation] *hand-fast, *hande-fast, s. & a. [HANDFAST, v.] A. As substantive: 1. A hold or grasp with the hand. "But the ground underfoot being slipperie theyr handfast failed."- Hackluyt : Voyages , iii. 64. 2. Hold, custody, constraint, confinement." "If that shepherd be not in handfast , let him fly."Shakesp.: Winter's Tale , iv. 3. 3. A contract, a pledge; a marriage engagement. "And can it be, that this most perfect creature, Should leave the handfast that he had of grace, To fall into a woman's easy arms?" Beaum . & Flet.: Woman Hater , iii. B. As adj .: Made fast by contract; betrothed, engaged. "A mayde made handefast or sure to a man in the howse of her father.- Bale : Apologie , fo. 151. *hand-fast, *hande-fast, v . t . [A. S. handfæs tan ; Icel. hand festa .] 1. To bind by a contract or engagement; to betroth, to pledge. "A gentleman, being handfasted to a gentlewoman, and sure to her, as he thought, afterwards lost her, being made faster to another man." -Wilson: Art of Rhetor i que, p. 144. 2. To join together solemnly by the hand; to marry. 3. To put under a pledge; to bind by a pledge or security. "He that tooke him [Sir James of Desmond) was a smith, and seruant to Sir Cormac, who foorthwith hand fasted him." -Holinshed: Chronicles of Ireland (1530). 4. To oblige by duty; to bind. "We list not so handfast ourselves to God Almighty." Abp . Sancroft . *hand-fast-Ing, pr . par . , a . & s . [HANDFAST, v.] A. & B. As pr . par . & particip . adj .: (See the verb.) C. As subst.: Betrothment. ( Wharton .) *hand fast-lý, hand-fast-lie, adv . [English handfast; -ly .] By pledge, under a pledge, solemnly. "The Scots would most holilie and handfast lie promise." -Holinshed: History of Scotland (1546). hănd fül, *hand-full, *hond-full, hon-ful, 8. [A. S. hand full; Icel. handfyllr; Ger. handvoll.] I. Literally: 1. As much as can be held or embraced in the hand. "Be not too narrow, husbandman; but fling From the full sheaf, with charitable stealth, The liberal hand full ." Thomson: Autumn, 169. *2. The breadth of the hand; a hand-breadth; a space of four inches. "Take one ve el of silver, and another of wood, each full of water, and knap the tongs together about an hand . ful from the bottom."- Bacon . *3. As much as the arms will embrace. IMG:content-0954.png:[blocks in formation] 2. A small number or quantity. "If they had not received a check upon their first arri. val in the town by a handful of men." -Ludlow: Memoirs , i. 124.