underhand (underhand)

[ All under - hand cloaking of bad actions with commonwealth pretences. Nashe , Pierce Penile e, p. 68. 2. Sly; contriving; deceitful. She's an underhand little thing: I never saw a girl of her age with so much cover. Charlotte Bronte , Jane Eyre, ii. 3. Performed or done with the knuckles of the hand turned under, the palm upward, and the thumb turned from the body: as, underhand bowling in cricket. - Underhand stoping. See stop ing. underhanded (un-der-han'ded), a. 1. Underhand. [A loose use.] Dickens . Covert, sly, underhanded communications. 2. Not having an adequate supply of hands; short-handed; sparsely peopled. [Rare.] If Norway could be brought to maintain a million more of inhabitants it might defy the world; but it is much underhanded now. Cole ridge, Table-Talk. underhandedly (un-der-han'ded-li), adv . In an underhand manner; secretly. underhandedne (un-der-han'ded-nes), n. The character of being underhanded; also, an underhand act.