# full-handed
## English
### Alternative forms

* fullhanded

### Etymology

From full +‎ handed.

### Adjective

full-handed (comparative more full-handed, superlative most full-handed)
* Carrying something, especially something valuable, such as a gift.
** 2014, E. W. Hornung, Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman, →ISBN:He was not only carrying a candle to put the finishing touch to him as a target; he had dispensed with coat and waistcoat downstairs, and was at once full-handed and unarmed
** 1926, Joseph Alexander Altsheler, The Masters of the Peaks: A Story of the Great North Woods, →ISBN:By night we'll all be back at this spot, full-handed or empty-handed, as it may be, but full-handed, I hope.
** 1898, Bram Stoker, Miss Betty:Had it so been, then for sure the robber had not got off full-handed or without a fight for it.
* Wealthy, having all that is needed.
** 1870, William Henry Gray, A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information, →ISBN:Mr. Beers came to the country full-handed, with a handsome competency to commence any business he might choose, independent of missionary patronage.
** 1871 (date written), Anthony Trollope, “The Lawyers agree”, in Lady Anna. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1874, →OCLC, page 277:Lady Anna has given away half her money, and may give away the whole if she pleases. She will be the same to me whether she comes full-handed or empty. But when she is my wife her property shall be my property,—and when I die there shall be no such abomination as an eldest son.
** 1904, Reports of Selected Civil and Criminal Cases Decided in the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, Volume 51:...the defendant had been, all the time, since the date of the note sued on, full-handed, in easy circumstances, and able to pay all his debts.
* Enthusiastic and generous.
** 1852, Charles Reade, Tom Taylor, Masks and Faces (play):Have we not the theatre, its triumphs, and full-handed thunders of applause?
** 1882, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Tiresias and Other Poems (dedication to Edward FitzGerald):Which cast it, that large infidel Your Omar; and your Omar drew Full-handed plaudits from our best
** 1911, Journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers:The welcome extended by our brother society to those of our Society who were present exceeded in cordiality and completeness the expectations of those who knew that there would be a warm and full-handed reception, and nothing was lacking in the perfection of arrangements for the meetings and for the comfort and pleasure of our members and their ladies.
** 1853, Charlotte Bronte, Villette:By every vessel he wrote; he wrote as he gave and as he loved, in full-handed, full-hearted plenitude.
* Using the palm of the hand or broad gestures.
** 2015, Soraya, The Wooden Rose, →ISBN:A spit on the palm and a full-handed slap was a deal but if only fingertips slapped then the bargaining would continue.
** 2014, John D. MacDonald, The End of the Night, →ISBN:As they passed Shack he reached out and gave Helen a massive, full-handed pinch on the buttock and winked at me with relaxed, expansive good cheer.
** 1964, Keith Laumer, The Great Time Machine Hoax:Genie swung a full-handed slap that sent the gaudily dressed cop staggering back.
** 2012, John Douillard, The Encyclopedia of Ayurvedic Massage, →ISBN, page 112:The circular strokes on the joints; long, full-handed strokes over the long bones
** 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:Then Manuel touched the jangling, jarring little machette to a queer tune, and sang something in Portuguese about "Nina, innocente!" ending with a full-handed sweep that brought the song up with a jerk.
* Having people that fill all positions.
** 2007, Mike Caro, Caro's Most Profitable Hold'em Advice, →ISBN:All that was about what you should do in a full-handed hold 'em game when you're the small blind versus a big blind. But, suppose instead that the game is two-handed from the get go.
** 1984, Marvin J. Fine, Systematic Intervention with Disturbed Children, →ISBN:The switches go in either direction around the triangle, and a player may find himself playing as many as three positions in a full-handed game.
** 1900, Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone Around the World:So in the first hour of my lone voyage I had proof that the Spray could at least do better than this full-handed steamship, for I was already farther on my voyage than she.
* Complete; fully qualified or fully equipped.
** 2014, Charles S. Bryan, Asylum Doctor: James Woods Babcock and the Red Plague of Pellagra, →ISBN:He regarded his younger brother as a “full-handed man of practice” and himself merely “a supported theorist.”
** 2013, Clara Barton, A Story of the Red Cross, →ISBN:It was a new and sorry sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull it by the roots.
** 2014, Robert Stanek, In the Service of Dragons Boxed Set, →ISBN:She had, after all, learned from the same master he had although matched daggers offered no reach compared to a full-handed sword.
** 1908, American bankruptcy reports - Volume 18, page 205:It seems to be a full-handed failure. The bankrupts must have a good deal of the values remaining in their hands.

#### Derived terms

* full-handedly
* full-handedness

### Adverb

full-handed (comparative more full-handed, superlative most full-handed)
* With full hands; bearing valuables or gifts.
** 2014, Edward Tyas Cook, The Life of Florence Nightingale vol. 2 of 2:On this occasion the minister came full-handed. He told her, first, as appears from her notes and letters, that he had definitely decided to appoint a Sanitary Committee at the India Office. He read out the list of names;
** 1864, United States Christian Commission, for the Army and Navy Volume 2:The want met in this case was that of a delegate to go full-handed from the home to the field, who should in due time return again to the home with pledges from the absent ones;
* As a wealthy person, having all that is needed.
** 1907, Ambrose Bierce, The Moonlit Road:One does not remember one's birth -- one has to be told. But with me it was different; life came to me full-handed and dowered me with all my faculties and powers.
** 1893 January, Edith Wharton, “Experience”, in Scribner's Magazine:O, Death, we come full-handed to they gate, Rich with strange burden of the mingled years
* Generously and whole-heartedly.
** 1879, Albert Williams, A Pioneer Pastorate and Times: Embodying Contemporary Local Transactions and Events, page 184:By the promptings of religious instinct and principle, our churches have been built and our asylums founded, and charity full-handed has bestowed her lavish gifts upon the unfortunate.
** 1903, Henry James, The Ambassadors‎:Art deals with what we see, it must first contribute full-handed that ingredient;
* With the entire hand.
** 2013, Gardner, Smart and Smarter, →ISBN:Can scribble, grasping crayon full-handed and awkwardly.
* Fully staffed or with all positions filled.
** 2014, Mary Boykin Chesnut, Mary Chesnut's Diary, →ISBN:But if we must run, who are left to run? From Bull Run they ran full-handed. But we have fought until maimed soldiers, women, and children are all that remain to run.
** 1903, The Labour Gazette - Volume 3, page 110:...though in the case of the bakers and confectioners at Winnipeg, the shops and factories concerned are running full-handed and most of the employees affected have obtained employment elsewhere.
* In a complete and fully-formed manner.
** 1922, North Carolina Education - Volume 17, page 3:Language is also elemental: at the tender dawn of childhood, it enters life with laughing eyes and prattling lips; at maturity's noon, it moves full-handed and deep-voiced in all the concerns of men;

#### Antonyms

* empty-handed