both-handed
English
Alternative forms
- both handed
Etymology
From both + handed.
Adjective
both-handed (not comparable)
- Skilled or able to use either hand, with unspecified degrees of equalness; ambidextrous.
- 2014, Sherwood Smith & Rachel Manija Brown, Stranger, →ISBN:
- “I'm ambidextrous,” she replied. “Both-handed. Dad says it's rare.”
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- Denoting either right-handed or left-handed; either-handed.
- 2006, Mamoru Kaneko, Game Theory and Mutual Misunderstanding: Scientific Dialogues in Five Acts, →ISBN, page 210:
- [Morimori, looking for a pair of scissors in the desk] Shinzuki Morimori Shinzuki: Yes, that is right. This is asymmetric one, so it is both-handed.
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- For use with both hands or using both hands.
- 2013, Adrian Van Young, The Man Who Noticed Everything, →ISBN:
- He stood a bit far of the gloom of the lobby, but short of the dazzle of the stairs, and he clenched his briefcase at his chest in a tense and both-handed, reptilian grip, as if whatever he had in it must be guarded at all costs.
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- Involving two sides or approaches
- 2013, Jae Ho Chung, China's Crisis Management, →ISBN:
- The principle of being “both-handed” or “talk for talk and fight for fight” suggests the necessity to combine soft means with tough ones and to struggle while seeking cooperation.
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Adverb
both-handed (not comparable)
- With both hands
- 1998, Jeffery Deaver, The Coffin Dancer:
- Then the brown-haired detective charged around the corner firing both-handed, skimming two off Stephen's vest, while Stephen himself danced one round off the detective's and they fell backward simultaneously.
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- Involving two sides or approaches
- 2010, Allan R. Millett & Williamson Murray, Military Effectiveness - Volume 3, →ISBN, page 104:
- Our second front will, in fact, comprise both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe, and we can push either right-handed, left-handed, or both-handed as our resources and circumstances permit.
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Derived terms
- both-handedness
See also
- left-handed
- right-handed