Meaning of secretary hand | Babel Free

Definitions

A style of handwriting developed in Europe and used during the 16th and 17th centuries for writing English, German, Welsh and Gaelic; a variety of this style.

countable, historical, uncountable

Examples

“It is written in three different Secretary hands: the first finishing at stanza 9 but with stanzas unnumbered,[…].”

“When Mercy Harvey advised the nobleman to imitate her handwriting, she specified that he should write⟳ the address on the outside of the letter in "a small raggid secretary hand."”

“There are five scribes, all using variations on Secretary hands consistent with the third quarter of the fifteenth century.”

“While originating at the end⟳ of the medieval period, the secretary hand was not widely employed until the early modern period, by which time it had completely displaced the earlier court hands.”

“Most authors, including dramatists, used both a separate⟳ secretary and an italic hand; in many cases the secretary hand was used for composing (that is, cursive or fluent) writing and italic for more formal copying.”

CEFR level