Word.ws English Dictionary

taut hand

taut hand noun: an officer who is severe in discipline.

Noun

taut hand (plural taut hands)

  1. (dated) An officer who is severe in discipline.
    • "[…]I'm no Tartar nor a slavedriver. But I am a taut hand, and a taut ship where every man jack works clearly for me, our ship, his mates, and our Fleet is a happy ship.[…]"1993, Dewey Lambdin, The Gun Ketch
  2. (dated) Strict discipline.
    • "Twas the first time I did that part of the duty in command, and I felt, in the circumstances, I was in for carrying it out with a taut hand."1879, George Cupples, The Green Hand: Adventures of a Naval Lieutenant

Forms of taut hand

pluraltaut hands

Questions about taut hand

What does taut hand mean?
Taut hand means an officer who is severe in discipline.
What part of speech is taut hand?
Taut hand is a noun.
What is the plural of taut hand?
The plural of taut hand is taut hands.

Words near taut hand in the dictionary

  1. tausonite
  2. Taussig-Bing syndrome
  3. Tausug
  4. Tausugs
  5. taut
  6. taut hand
  7. taut hands
  8. taut-
  9. taut-line hitch
  10. taut-line hitches
  11. tautaug

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taut hand (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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