Word.ws English Dictionary

toom-handed

toom-handed adjective: emptyhanded.

Adjective

toom-handed (not comparable)

  1. (Scotland, dialectal) Emptyhanded.
    • Tis maybe better, I'll take fat ye gee, Ye're nae toom-handed gin your heart be free1812, Alexander Ross, Alexander Thomson, Helenore: Or, The Fortunate Shepherdess. A Pastoral Tale, page 8

Adverb

toom-handed (not comparable)

  1. (Scotland, dialectal) Emptyhanded.
    • I wis he had na been so headstrong ; but it's a' his ain fault : howsever, it would na be canny to gang toom-handed, and I hae got a bit bill for five score pounds that I'm mindit to gie him.1823, John Galt, The Entail: Or, The Lairds of Grippy - Volume 1, page 156
    • It's but sma' propine ; but I wad na come a'- thegither toom-handed, were it but for luck's sake1827, Christian Isobel Johnstone, Elizabeth de Bruce - Volume 2, page 241

Origin of toom-handed

From toom + handed.

Questions about toom-handed

What does toom-handed mean?
Toom-handed means emptyhanded.
What part of speech is toom-handed?
Toom-handed can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near toom-handed in the dictionary

  1. tooltipped
  2. tooltipping
  3. tooltips
  4. toom
  5. Toom-Cook algorithm
  6. toom-handed
  7. Tooma
  8. toombah
  9. toombahs
  10. Toombes
  11. toombi

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: toom-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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