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Definition of Handful
1. Noun. A small number or amount. "Only a handful of responses were received"
2. Noun. The quantity that can be held in the hand.
Definition of Handful
1. n. As much as the hand will grasp or contain.
Definition of Handful
1. Noun. As much as the hand will grasp or contain. - Joseph Addison ¹
2. Noun. (obsolete) A hand's breadth; four inches. ¹
3. Noun. A small quantity, usually approximately equal to five, the number of fingers on a hand. ¹
4. Noun. Something which can only be managed with difficulty. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Handful
1. as much as the hand can hold [n HANDFULS or HANDSFUL]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Handful
Literary usage of Handful
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative by Richard Henry Dana (1911)
"... to put off after her; but there being none then at hand, they offered a handful
of silver to any Kanaka who would swim off and take a letter on board. ..."
2. Nature by Norman Lockyer, Nature Publishing Group (1875)
"He was at last compelled in self-defence to fight the native tribes, and one
cannot but be struck with admiration at the skill with which he, with a handful ..."
3. The Dictionary of National Biography by Sidney Lee (1908)
"... drew back, preferring 'to be there with his ancestors, rather than in heaven
with a handful of beggars '—was in the midst of one of those struggles with ..."
4. A Short History of the English People by John Richard Green (1884)
"new danger, plunged desperately into conspiracies with a handful of adventurers
as desperate as himself, hid himself in the City, where he boasted that ten ..."
5. The Talisman: A Tale of the Crusaders by Walter Scott (1878)
"A handful of dates, and a morsel of coarse barley-bread, sufficed to relieve the
hunger of the latter, whose education had habituated him to the fare of the ..."
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