Meaning of numb-handed | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Having hands that are numb.
2. Inept or clumsy.

Examples

“The wine-dark seas pass under, and the heavy boats swing round, and the men roll their nets and go, numb-handed, backs bent, harbor bound, gift-laden, home: where light, fast fading, locks land in gold, and gulls cross, crying, the scene, and cross again, crying.”

“I was in the delivery room as she was born into this world, nauseated by the excitement and numb-handed from Izzy squeezing the life from my digits.”

“Soaked to the skin and numb-handed, we secured the boat between two grounded bergs and camped in a long-deserted Inuit hut.”

“'Oh, you scandalous, hypocritical, rusty-booted, numb-handed son of a puffing corn-cutter, why don't you turn your attention to feeding hens, cultivating cabbages, or making pantaloons for small folk, instead of killing hounds in this wholesale way'! roared Jack; an enquiry that set him foaming again.”

“Most folks associate London with White Fang, The Call of the Wild, and struggling numb-handed to start a fire in the snow. (You know how that one ends.)”

“Bette Mandl, who had the original idea for this very special issue on O'Neill and Gender, contacted a particularly fine array of experts in that burgeoning field of study, and pretty much created the entire issue with her usual diligence and grace, leaving numb-handed but happy-hearted me with little to do but sit back and marvel at the splendor of the whole package.”

“He signs the painting in a vigorous but numb-handed red - always he finds the signature the most uncomfortable strokes in the canvas - and steps back to observe...”

CEFR level