Word.ws English Dictionary

side-handed

side-handed adjective: sideways from the hand. Also the simple past and past participle of side-hand.

Adjective

side-handed (not comparable)

  1. Sideways from the hand.
    • Lightning drew in on his tail and I gave my lariat a side-handed pitch.2004, Randy D. Smith, Sunday's Colt and Other Stories of the Old West, →ISBN, page 91
    • With a motion so smooth and fast Marco could barely track it, the man at his side whipped the metal bar in a side-handed toss.2014, Lee Thomas, Butcher's Road, →ISBN, page 61
  2. Done with the side of the hand.
    • Mallory tensed, and as the policeman passed the door, he stepped out, brought his hand over and down in a side-handed blow to the base of the neck that had every ounce of power in his shoulders behind it.1967, Harlan Ellison, Dangerous Visions, page 488
    • It was a clumsy, side-handed, chopping blow, but Louis was unprepared for it.1983, Stephen King, Pet Sematary
  3. Indirect; subtle.
    • When she appeared again, she made some side-handed inquiries regarding Otto (with that gentle artifice oft employed by women); but he was gone.1869, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Legend of the Rhine”, in Burlesques
    • When he says about his wife of more than fifty years, "Whatever Maxine wants, Maxine gets," he's not making a side-handed comment about their marriage.2007, Sherry Lee Hoppe, Bruce W. Speck, Maxine Smith's Unwilling Pupils, →ISBN, page 151
  4. (UK) Expanding.
    • ... with side-handed or expanding batons, so as to provide police officers with better protection against assaults by criminals.1993, Great Britain Parliament House of Lords, The Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): Official Report
    • However, Strathclyde has always said that, while it has stepped up security for officers, through the introduction of ``quick cuffs, side-handed batons, and knife-resistant vests, CS sprays were not on its ``menu.1996 August 22, “Force is the only one willing to follow English lead in use of canisters Grampian may arm officers with CS spray”, in Herald Scotland

Adverb

side-handed (not comparable)

  1. Sideways.
    • Wading upstream, it was obvious I would have to cast side-handed and under-handed, with an occasional bow-and-arrow "shot."1972, Colorado Game, Fish Department, Colorado Outdoors - Volumes 21-22, page 36
    • I could see Tom in the Bisto mirror on the wall as he took a bottle off the shelf side-handed without breaking stride, and placed it on the counter.2013, Sean O'Connor, Growing Up So High: A Liberties Boyhood, →ISBN
  2. Using the side of the hand.
    • As the gunman spluttered, Towler continued the momentum of his hand to catch the man side-handed in the windpipe and, with his other hand, struck him hard in the crotch.1992, Kenneth Royce, Exchange of Doves, →ISBN, page 84

Also used as

side-handed is also the simple past and past participle of side-hand.

Examples of side-handed in a sentence

  • A sideways or side-handed throw may be necessary to avoid obstacles, toss it into a small opening, or throw it around a corner of a building or trench angle.2015, Gordon L. Rottman, Johnny Shumate, The Hand Grenade, →ISBN, page 40:
  • She'd been poised to deliver another side-handed slice to Mouse's head, and only with reluctance did she lower her arm and move back.2014, Barbara Delinsky, Secret Promises, →ISBN, page 489:
  • Michael Howard will be given a demonstration of the use of the extended baton and the more controversial side-handed baton at the Home Office.2015 June 14, Colin Brown, “Howard to approve longer police baton: Home Secretary urges more effective protection”, in The Independent:
  • I pull the pin and lob the explosive side-handed into the room.2014, Rob Volver, Guns 'n Money, →ISBN:

Origin of side-handed

From side + handed.

Words formed from side-handed

Questions about side-handed

What does side-handed mean?
Side-handed means sideways from the hand.
How do you use side-handed in a sentence?
A sideways or side-handed throw may be necessary to avoid obstacles, toss it into a small opening, or throw it around a corner of a building or trench angle.
What part of speech is side-handed?
Side-handed can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near side-handed in the dictionary

  1. side-foot
  2. side-gaze
  3. side-glance
  4. side-glances
  5. side-hand
  6. side-handed
  7. side-handedly
  8. side-handing
  9. side-hands
  10. side-lever
  11. side-levers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: side-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: “side-handed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/side-handed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.