Meaning of dry-handed | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Having hands that are dry.
2. Old and withered, with connotations of lacking sexual potency or appeal.
3. Empty-handed.
   archaic
4. Unarmed; lacking special equipment for fighting.
   obsolete
5. Snobbish; concerned more with social standing than actual worth.
   obsolete

Examples

“She identified the dry grasp and the finger joints (both the Simpsons were dry-handed, and in the early stages of arthritis, so Dr Simpson had diagnosed).”

“Just after noon, a northerly wind suddenly sprant up. De Villaine and his crew were left to finish⟳ their harvest⟳ dry-headed and dry-handed.”

“In the experiment⟳ the dry-handed milkers washed their hands thoroughly in soap and water and dried them on a clean⟳ towel before starting.”

“She went from the arms of the football captain to the dry-handed grasp of Mr. Depopolus, who'd retired from the faculty when she was twelve years old.”

“As Dot walked down the steps towards the couple who frowned at the house, at the cypress trees, the camellia bushes and clay roof tiles, it became clear Ruth was ageing in reverse.At the funeral she had been strung-out, dry-handed, efficient and too thin, and she now looked younger, the layer of dewy plumpness in the skin of her face⟳ at odds with the cage bones above her unlikely breasts.”

“Dry-handed big-eyed cryptographer Joria Trin Han, approaching intimacy as if it were a secret code to be cracked.”

“"But since they commenced to turning folks away, off dry-handed, giving them nothing while folks were getting hungry, well then the federal government fixed the welfare.”

“He went away on Wednesday last⟳, and left this enclosed, which, I think⟳, gives notice⟳ that the dry-handed Indians will remember⟳ themselves and you better than they have⟳ done.”

“The General Fund Court also took exception in 1756 to the habit of 'some Trades' of booking 'dry-handed' masters without taking anything for the general fund. Dry-handed members were those who did not practise⟳ a craft; they included men of all sort⟳ of professions and craftsmen of any trade⟳ except the one they happened to be entering.”

“'And now,' she said,'ye maun hae arms:ye maunna gang on dry-handed; but use⟳ them not rashly.”

“Ndebele boxers, however, fought dry handed. In the oral myth this difference between bare-hand and gloved boxing has come⟳ to stand⟳ for notions of 'Matabele' backwardness and 'Manyika' civilization.”

“How long will ye whet spears with eloquence, Fight⟳, and kill⟳ beasts dry-handed with sweet words? Cease, or talk⟳ still and slay⟳ thy boars at home.”

“During the ensuing period of growth and change⟳ Barrington began to consider⟳ itself the seat of learning and culture and to look⟳ down its nose somewhat at the outer villages, which in turn⟳ accused Barrington of becoming "dry-handed" and altogether too high-minded as it turned from fishing to business and the land⟳”

“For I hear⟳ their carriage well commended, especially the Duke of Nevers, saving that the Queen's musicians and other inferior officers complain⟳, that he was very dry-handed.”

“£10,000 apiece; and, if all fall⟳ out right, the latter to come⟳ to our good friend [Secretary Winwood]'s share⟳, who had rather have⟳ met with somebody else, and set⟳ me on work⟳ to win⟳ the dry-handed Knight (you know⟳ who I mean⟳), who though he be ambitious enough, yet covetousness is the more predominant.”

CEFR level