Word.ws English Dictionary

full-handed

full-handed adjective: carrying something, especially something valuable, such as a gift.

Adjective

full-handed (comparative more full-handed, superlative most full-handed)

  1. Carrying something, especially something valuable, such as a gift.
    • He was not only carrying a candle to put the finishing touch to him as a target; he had dispensed with coat and waistcoat downstairs, and was at once full-handed and unarmed2014, E. W. Hornung, Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman, →ISBN
    • By night we'll all be back at this spot, full-handed or empty-handed, as it may be, but full-handed, I hope.1926, Joseph Alexander Altsheler, The Masters of the Peaks: A Story of the Great North Woods, →ISBN
  2. Wealthy, having all that is needed.
    • Mr. Beers came to the country full-handed, with a handsome competency to commence any business he might choose, independent of missionary patronage.1870, William Henry Gray, A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information, →ISBN
    • Lady Anna has given away half her money, and may give away the whole if she pleases. She will be the same to me whether she comes full-handed or empty. But when she is my wife her property shall be my property,—and when I die there shall be no such abomination as an eldest son.1871 (date written), Anthony Trollope, “The Lawyers agree”, in Lady Anna. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1874, →OCLC, page 277
  3. Enthusiastic and generous.
    • Have we not the theatre, its triumphs, and full-handed thunders of applause?1852, Charles Reade, Tom Taylor, Masks and Faces (play)
    • Which cast it, that large infidel Your Omar; and your Omar drew Full-handed plaudits from our best1882, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Tiresias and Other Poems (dedication to Edward FitzGerald)
  4. Using the palm of the hand or broad gestures.
    • A spit on the palm and a full-handed slap was a deal but if only fingertips slapped then the bargaining would continue.2015, Soraya, The Wooden Rose, →ISBN
    • As they passed Shack he reached out and gave Helen a massive, full-handed pinch on the buttock and winked at me with relaxed, expansive good cheer.2014, John D. MacDonald, The End of the Night, →ISBN
  5. Having people that fill all positions.
    • All that was about what you should do in a full-handed hold 'em game when you're the small blind versus a big blind. But, suppose instead that the game is two-handed from the get go.2007, Mike Caro, Caro's Most Profitable Hold'em Advice, →ISBN
    • The switches go in either direction around the triangle, and a player may find himself playing as many as three positions in a full-handed game.1984, Marvin J. Fine, Systematic Intervention with Disturbed Children, →ISBN
  6. Complete; fully qualified or fully equipped.
    • He regarded his younger brother as a “full-handed man of practice” and himself merely “a supported theorist.”2014, Charles S. Bryan, Asylum Doctor: James Woods Babcock and the Red Plague of Pellagra, →ISBN
    • It was a new and sorry sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull it by the roots.2013, Clara Barton, A Story of the Red Cross, →ISBN

Adverb

full-handed (comparative more full-handed, superlative most full-handed)

  1. With full hands; bearing valuables or gifts.
    • On this occasion the minister came full-handed. He told her, first, as appears from her notes and letters, that he had definitely decided to appoint a Sanitary Committee at the India Office. He read out the list of names;2014, Edward Tyas Cook, The Life of Florence Nightingale vol. 2 of 2
    • The want met in this case was that of a delegate to go full-handed from the home to the field, who should in due time return again to the home with pledges from the absent ones;1864, United States Christian Commission, for the Army and Navy Volume 2
  2. As a wealthy person, having all that is needed.
    • One does not remember one's birth -- one has to be told. But with me it was different; life came to me full-handed and dowered me with all my faculties and powers.1907, Ambrose Bierce, The Moonlit Road
    • O, Death, we come full-handed to they gate, Rich with strange burden of the mingled years1893 January, Edith Wharton, “Experience”, in Scribner's Magazine
  3. Generously and whole-heartedly.
    • By the promptings of religious instinct and principle, our churches have been built and our asylums founded, and charity full-handed has bestowed her lavish gifts upon the unfortunate.1879, Albert Williams, A Pioneer Pastorate and Times: Embodying Contemporary Local Transactions and Events, page 184
    • Art deals with what we see, it must first contribute full-handed that ingredient;1903 September 28, Henry James, The Ambassadors, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC
  4. With the entire hand.
    • Can scribble, grasping crayon full-handed and awkwardly.2013, Gardner, Smart and Smarter, →ISBN
  5. Fully staffed or with all positions filled.
    • But if we must run, who are left to run? From Bull Run they ran full-handed. But we have fought until maimed soldiers, women, and children are all that remain to run.2014, Mary Boykin Chesnut, Mary Chesnut's Diary, →ISBN
    • ...though in the case of the bakers and confectioners at Winnipeg, the shops and factories concerned are running full-handed and most of the employees affected have obtained employment elsewhere.1903, The Labour Gazette - Volume 3, page 110
  6. In a complete and fully-formed manner.
    • Language is also elemental: at the tender dawn of childhood, it enters life with laughing eyes and prattling lips; at maturity's noon, it moves full-handed and deep-voiced in all the concerns of men;1922, North Carolina Education - Volume 17, page 3

Examples of full-handed in a sentence

  • Had it so been, then for sure the robber had not got off full-handed or without a fight for it.1898, Bram Stoker, Miss Betty:
  • ...the defendant had been, all the time, since the date of the note sued on, full-handed, in easy circumstances, and able to pay all his debts.1904, Reports of Selected Civil and Criminal Cases Decided in the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, Volume 51:
  • By every vessel he wrote; he wrote as he gave and as he loved, in full-handed, full-hearted plenitude.1853, Charlotte Bronte, Villette:
  • Genie swung a full-handed slap that sent the gaudily dressed cop staggering back.1964, Keith Laumer, The Great Time Machine Hoax:

Antonyms of full-handed

Forms of full-handed

Adjective
comparativemore full-handed
superlativemost full-handed
alternative formfullhanded
Adverb
comparativemore full-handed
superlativemost full-handed

Origin of full-handed

From full + handed.

Words formed from full-handed

Questions about full-handed

What does full-handed mean?
Full-handed means carrying something, especially something valuable, such as a gift.
How do you use full-handed in a sentence?
Had it so been, then for sure the robber had not got off full-handed or without a fight for it.
What part of speech is full-handed?
Full-handed can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near full-handed in the dictionary

  1. full-frontal nudity
  2. full-frontals
  3. full-grade
  4. full-grown
  5. full-grownness
  6. full-handed
  7. full-handedly
  8. full-handedness
  9. full-hearted
  10. full-heartedly
  11. full-heartedness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: full-handed (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “full-handed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/full-handed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.