Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
bare-handed
also barehanded, mid-15c., from bare (adj.) + -handed.
Usage examples of "bare-handed".
Except for the pygmies, who could handle a bow against the cranes, would the skiapods fight bare-handed, would the ponces attack with member shouldered, would the tongueless be sent out as advance scouts to report what they had seen?
Here, though, the battle was waged bare-handed, with no assistance from chemical antipest compounds.
Eldest Bright might order my Groupman to charge an enemy gun emplacement bare-handed and my Groupman would not hesitate to obey.
My old teacher the Rebbe would have chomped at his beard to see me handling a sacred text bare-handed and familiar, but he was dead these seven years past, his weary heart faltering in his sleep.