handshake
/ˈhæn(d)ˌʃeɪk/
handshake noun: the grasping of hands by two people when greeting, leave-taking, or making an agreement.
Noun
handshake (plural handshakes)
- The grasping of hands by two people when greeting, leave-taking, or making an agreement.
- Eccles' handshake, eager and practiced and hard, seems to symbolize for him an embrace. For an instant Rabbit fears he will never let go.1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 88
- An exchange of signals between two devices when communications begin in order to ensure synchronization.
Verb
handshake (third-person singular simple present handshakes, present participle handshaking, simple past and past participle handshaked or handshook)
- To perform a handshake; to shake hands.
- To perform a handshake with another device.
handshake meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
handshake in Hindi
- grasping of hands by two people
- करमर्दन karmardan
handshake in Tamil
- கைகுலுக்கல்
handshake in Marathi
- हातमिळवणी, हस्तांदोलन
handshake in Urdu
- grasping of hands by two people
- مُصافَحَہ musāfaha
More languagesFewer languages
- handshake in Bengali
- মুসাফা muśapha
- handshake in Telugu
- కరచాలనం karacālanaṁ
- handshake in Malayalam
- ഹസ്തദാനം
- handshake in Kannada
- ಹಸ್ತಲಾಘವ, ಕೈಕುಲುಕು, ಕಯ್ಕುಲುಕು, ಕಯ್ಕುಲುಕಾಟ
- handshake in Punjabi
- ਹੱਥ ਮਿਲਾਉਣਾ, ਹੱਥ ਮਿਲਾਉਣ
- handshake in Odia
- ହାତ ମିଳାଇବା
- handshake in Nepali
- हात मिलाउने, हात मिलाउँदै
- handshake in Arabic
- مُصَافَحَة muṣāfaḥa
- handshake in Indonesian
- jabat tangan
- handshake in Thai
- การจับมือ gaan-jàp-mʉʉ, จับมือ jàp-mʉʉ
- handshake in Vietnamese
- cái bắt tay, sự bắt tay
Examples of handshake in a sentence
- His father's affection never went further than a handshake or a clap on the shoulder.
- The slighting of a handshake by Samuel ticked off Judi to no end.
- I waited for the modems to finish their handshaking so I could start transferring the file.
Forms of handshake
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | handshakes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | handshakes |
| present participle | handshaking |
| past participle | handshaked |
| past | handshaked |
| past participle | handshook |
| past | handshook |
Origin of handshake
From hand + shake. See the appendix for the history of the gesture itself.
Words formed from handshake
Phrases with handshake
Questions about handshake
- What does handshake mean?
- Handshake means the grasping of hands by two people when greeting, leave-taking, or making an agreement.
- What is handshake in Hindi?
- Handshake in Hindi is करमर्दन (karmardan). See Handshake meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is handshake?
- Handshake can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce handshake?
- Handshake is pronounced /ˈhæn(d)ˌʃeɪk/ (US).
- What is the plural of handshake?
- The plural of handshake is handshakes.
Words near handshake in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: handshake (page history and authors); handshake (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handshake (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); handshake (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handshake (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handshake (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); handshake (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); handshake (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-handshake.ogg, en-uk-handshake.ogg.
Cite this entry: “handshake.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handshake. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.