Definition of Left-handed
1. Adjective. Using or intended for the left hand. "Left-handed scissors"
Similar to: Left, Left-hand, Sinistral
Antonyms: Ambidextrous, Right-handed
Derivative terms: Left-handedness
2. Adjective. (of marriages) illicit or informal. "In Colonial America left-handed marriages between Frenchmen and Indians were frequent"
3. Adjective. (of marriages) of a marriage between one of royal or noble birth and one of lower rank; valid but with the understanding that the rank of the inferior remains unchanged and offspring do not succeed to titles or property of the superior.
4. Adjective. Rotating to the left.
Similar to: Anticlockwise, Contraclockwise, Counterclockwise
5. Adjective. Ironically ambiguous. "A left-handed compliment"
6. Adjective. Lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands. "Could scarcely empty a scuttle of ashes, so handless was the poor creature"
Similar to: Maladroit
Definition of Left-handed
1. Adjective. Of or pertaining to one who uses his or her left hand in preference to, or more skillfully than, his or her right. ¹
2. Adjective. Intended to be worn on, or used by, the left hand. ¹
3. Adjective. Turning or spiraling from right to left; anticlockwise. ¹
4. Adjective. Awkward or maladroit. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Medical Definition of Left-handed
1. 1. Having the left hand or arm stronger and more dexterous than the right; using the left hand and arm with more dexterity than the right. 2. Clumsy; awkward; unlucky; insincere; sinister; malicious; as, a left-handed compliment. "The commendations of this people are not always left-handed and detractive." (Landor) 3. Having a direction contrary to that of the hands of a watch when seen in front; said of a twist, a rotary motion, etc, looked at from a given direction. Left-handed marriage, a morganatic marriage. See Morganatic. Left-handed screw, a screw constructed to advance away from the observer, when turned, as in a nut, with a left-handed rotation. An ordinary wood screw is right-handed. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Left-handed Pictures
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Lexicographical Neighbors of Left-handed
Literary usage of Left-handed
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism by James Clerk Maxwell (1904)
"On Right-handed and left-handed Relations in Space. 23.] In this treatise the
motions of translation along any axis and of rotation about that ..."
2. Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada: Déliberations by Royal Society of Canada (1908)
"That the average man is right-handed is so well known, that it would appear hardly
worth noting the fact, but left-handed men are so common that the ..."
3. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1916)
"The patient, herself right-handed, had a left-handed father and a left-handed
mother, both of whom presented themselves for observation. ..."
4. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1904)
"A gentleman acquaintance who is left-handed for most things has by ... In the
left-handed, as is well known, the speech center is in the right brain. ..."
5. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London by Royal Society (Great Britain) (1877)
"This is equivalent to two circularly polarized rays, one right- and the other
left-handed (as regards the observer). After passing through the medium the ..."
6. The Lancet (1898)
"Consider the fine pair of horns of the koodoo, a right-handed spiral on the left
side and a left-handed spiral on the right ..."
Other Resources Relating to: Left-handed
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