# side-handed
## English
### Etymology

From side +‎ handed.

### Adjective

side-handed (not comparable)
* Sideways from the hand.
** 2004, Randy D. Smith, Sunday's Colt and Other Stories of the Old West, →ISBN, page 91:Lightning drew in on his tail and I gave my lariat a side-handed pitch.
** 2014, Lee Thomas, Butcher's Road, →ISBN, page 61:With a motion so smooth and fast Marco could barely track it, the man at his side whipped the metal bar in a side-handed toss.
** 2015, Gordon L. Rottman, Johnny Shumate, The Hand Grenade, →ISBN, page 40:A sideways or side-handed throw may be necessary to avoid obstacles, toss it into a small opening, or throw it around a corner of a building or trench angle.
* Done with the side of the hand.
** 1967, Harlan Ellison, Dangerous Visions, page 488:Mallory tensed, and as the policeman passed the door, he stepped out, brought his hand over and down in a side-handed blow to the base of the neck that had every ounce of power in his shoulders behind it.
** 1983, Stephen King, Pet Sematary:It was a clumsy, side-handed, chopping blow, but Louis was unprepared for it.
** 2014, Barbara Delinsky, Secret Promises, →ISBN, page 489:She'd been poised to deliver another side-handed slice to Mouse's head, and only with reluctance did she lower her arm and move back.
* Indirect; subtle.
** 1869, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Legend of the Rhine”, in Burlesques:When she appeared again, she made some side-handed inquiries regarding Otto (with that gentle artifice oft employed by women); but he was gone.
** 2007, Sherry Lee Hoppe, Bruce W. Speck, Maxine Smith's Unwilling Pupils, →ISBN, page 151:When he says about his wife of more than fifty years, "Whatever Maxine wants, Maxine gets," he's not making a side-handed comment about their marriage.
** 2010, Robert Hastings, Back When Mary Alice Was Still a Blonde, →ISBN, page 205:Elba Rae Van Oaks — in her quest to capture the elusive Laveetra — had not entertained the possibility of a sensible conversation with her aunt, who did not appear poised to disappoint, but neither had she expected a side-handed accolade.
* (UK, of a baton or nightstick) Expanding.
** 1993, Great Britain Parliament House of Lords, The Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): Official Report:... with side-handed or expanding batons, so as to provide police officers with better protection against assaults by criminals.
** 1996 August 22, “Force is the only one willing to follow English lead in use of canisters Grampian may arm officers with CS spray”, in Herald Scotland:However, Strathclyde has always said that, while it has stepped up security for officers, through the introduction of ``quick cuffs, side-handed batons, and knife-resistant vests, CS sprays were not on its ``menu.
** 2015 June 14, Colin Brown, “Howard to approve longer police baton: Home Secretary urges more effective protection”, in The Independent:Michael Howard will be given a demonstration of the use of the extended baton and the more controversial side-handed baton at the Home Office.

### Adverb

side-handed (not comparable)
* (of an action executed with the hand) Sideways.
** 1972, Colorado Game, Fish Department, Colorado Outdoors - Volumes 21-22, page 36:Wading upstream, it was obvious I would have to cast side-handed and under-handed, with an occasional bow-and-arrow "shot."
** 2013, Sean O'Connor, Growing Up So High: A Liberties Boyhood, →ISBN:I could see Tom in the Bisto mirror on the wall as he took a bottle off the shelf side-handed without breaking stride, and placed it on the counter.
** 2014, Rob Volver, Guns 'n Money, →ISBN:I pull the pin and lob the explosive side-handed into the room.
* Using the side of the hand.
** 1992, Kenneth Royce, Exchange of Doves, →ISBN, page 84:As the gunman spluttered, Towler continued the momentum of his hand to catch the man side-handed in the windpipe and, with his other hand, struck him hard in the crotch.

### Verb

side-handed
* simple past and past participle of side-hand