Handful

English

Noun

Handful (plural Handfuls or handsful)

1. As much as the hand will grasp or contain. - Joseph Addison
2. (obsolete) A hand's breadth; four inches.

   Knap the tongs together about a handful from the bottom. - Francis Bacon

3. A small quantity, usually approximately equal to five, the number of fingers on a hand.

   This handful of men were tied to very hard duty. - Fuller

4. Something which can only be managed with difficulty.

   Those twins are a real handful to look after.

Synonyms

• (content of a hand) fistful
• handbreadth, handsbreadth

Derived terms

• To have one's handful: (Obsolete): to have one's hands full; to have all one can do.

  They had their handful to defend themselves from firing. - Sir Walter Raleigh

Related terms

• handgrip
• handhold

Adjectives for Handful

paltry; unshackled; comparative; thorny; scanty; scattered; promiscuous.

Thesaurus

Augean task, Herculean task, a few, ace, atom, backbreaker, ballbuster, bit, bitch, bother, chore, couple, dab, dead lift, dole, dot, dram, dribble, driblet, dwarf, farthing, few, fistful, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, gobbet, grain, granule, groat, hair, hard job, hard pull, heavy sledding, iota, jot, large order, limited number, little, little bit, man-sized job, minim, minimum, minutiae, mischief-maker, mite, modicum, molecule, mote, nuisance, nutshell, only a few, ounce, particle, pebble, piddling few, piddling number, pinch, pittance, point, rough go, scattering, scruple, small number, smatter, smattering, smidgen, smitch, spatter, spattering, speck, spoonful, spot, sprinkling, tall order, thimbleful, tiny bit, tittle, too few, tough job, tough proposition, trickle, trifling amount, trivia, troublemaker, uphill work, whit

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English handful (“handful”), from Proto-Germanic *handfullan, *handfullō, *handfulljô (“handful”), from Proto-Germanic *handuz (“hand”), *fullaz (“full”), equivalent to hand +‎ full (“fullness, plenty”). Cognate with West Frisian hânfol (“handful”), Dutch handvol (“handful”), Danish håndfuld (“handful”), Swedish handfull (“handfull”), Icelandic handfylli (“handful”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  noicon

  (file)

Translations

amount held in hand

Armenian: բուռ (hy) (buṙ) Czech: hrst (cs) f. Danish: håndfuld (da) c. Dutch: handvol n. Finnish: kourallinen (fi) French: poignée (fr) f. Greek: χούφτα (el) (choúfta) f. Hungarian: marék (hu), maréknyi (hu), marok (hu), maroknyi (hu) Indonesian: segenggam

Italian: manciata (it), pugno (it) Macedonian: грст (mk) (g'rst) m. Norwegian: håndfull (no) m. Polish: garść (pl) f. Romanian: mănunchi (ro) Russian: горсть (ru) (gorst') f., пригоршня (ru) (prigoršn'a) f. Scots: haundfu, luiffu, nievefu Spanish: manojo (es) m., puñado (es) m. Swedish: handfull (sv) c.

breadth of hand

Danish: håndsbred (da) c. Dutch: handbreed n., handbreedte French: manipule (fr)

Italian: manipolo (it), gruppetto (it), pugno (it) Macedonian: грст (mk) (g'rst) m.

small quantity

Armenian: բուռ (hy) (buṙ) Danish: håndfuld (da) c. Dutch: handvol n., beetje n. Finnish: kourallinen (fi) French: poignée (fr) f. Greek: χούφτα (el) (choúfta) f.

Indonesian: segenggam Italian: manciata (it) f., pugno (it) m., manipolo (it) Macedonian: грст (mk) (g'rst) m. Norwegian: håndfull (no) m. Polish: garść (pl) f. Russian: горстка (ru) (górstka) f.

handled with difficulty

Dutch: handenbinder m., lastpost Italian: indisciplinato (it), irrequieto (it), birichino (it)

Polish: trudne do zniesienia (pl)

The translations below need to be checked.

Translations to be checked

Norwegian: knyttneve (no) m. (breadth of hand)

Spanish: puñado m., manojo m., poca cantidad f.