Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Left-handed \Left"-hand`ed\, a.
Having the left hand or arm stronger and more dexterous than the right; using the left hand and arm with more dexterity than the right.
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Clumsy; awkward; unlucky; insincere; sinister; malicious; as, a left-handed compliment.
The commendations of this people are not always left-handed and detractive.
--Landor. -
Having a direction contrary to that of the hands of a watch when seen in front; -- said of a twist, a rotary motion, etc., looked at from a given direction.
Left-handed marriage, a morganatic marriage. See Morganatic.
Left-handed screw, a screw constructed to advance away from the observer, when turned, as in a nut, with a left-handed rotation. An ordinary wood screw is right-handed.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., of persons; 1650s of tools, etc., from left (adj.) + -handed. In 15c. it also could mean "maimed." Sense of "underhanded" is from early 17c., as in left-handed compliment (1787, also attested 1855 in pugilism slang for "a punch with the left fist"), as is that of "illicit" (as in left-handed marriage). Related: Left-handedly; left-handedness.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Of or pertaining to one who uses his or her left hand in preference to, or more skillfully than, his or her right. 2 Intended to be worn on, or used by, the left hand. 3 turn or spiraling from right to left; anticlockwise. 4 awkward or maladroit. alt. 1 Of or pertaining to one who uses his or her left hand in preference to, or more skillfully than, his or her right. 2 Intended to be worn on, or used by, the left hand. 3 turn or spiraling from right to left; anticlockwise. 4 awkward or maladroit. n. Left-handed people, taken as a whole.
WordNet
adj. using or intended for the lefts hand; "left-handed golfers need left-handed clubs"; "left-handed scissors" [ant: ambidextrous, right-handed]
(of marriages) illicit or informal; "in Colonial America left-handed marriages between Frenchmen and Indians were frequent"
(of marriages) of a marriage between one of royal or noble birth and one of lower rank; valid but with the understanding that the rank of the inferior remains unchanged and offspring do not succeed to titles or property of the superior [syn: morganatic]
rotating to the left [syn: levorotary, levorotatory]
ironically ambiguous; "a left-handed compliment"
not skillful in physical movement especially with the hands; "a bumbling mechanic"; "a bungling performance"; "ham-handed governmental interference"; "could scarcely empty a scuttle of ashes, so handless was the poor creature"- Mary H. Vorse [syn: bumbling, bungling, butterfingered, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed]
Usage examples of "left-handed".
Left-handed compliment that it was, Alec returned the grin as he snapped the coin up his sleeve a final time.
He was also a fairly good left-handed pitcher, and a rattling good batsman, who excelled in fair-foul hitting.
He was 28 years old, left-handed, bilingual, Catholic, twice married but never in the Church, and was currently being sued for bigamy by one Juanita Torres Fuentes in San Diego.
Raymond, also left-handed, came next, and, letting two balls go, he bunted the third.
A left-handed scion of the old house of Malvallet, Simon cleaved for himself a new name and a new title.
If you take a Moebius band made with a left-handed twist, and another band made with a right-handed twist, they will be enantiomorphs of each other.
To suppose that we of the left-handed fraternity, of the goatish rather than the sheepish brotherhood, had no purpose, that is unreal.
They have to be, for they are working with small, left-handed orders that are more goatish than sheepish, that are very near to the grotesque heart of matter.
In a majuscule, childish script that might have been written left-handed, it says: It has come to my notice that you are with child.
Left-handed, he took a cigarette from a pack in his shirt pocket, lit it, snapping the wood match he had used in half, then snickered, shaking his head in amusement as he walked over to the counter and smiled strangely down at Rambo on the stool.
Later the Omani Arabs, under their warrior king Ahmed El Grang the Left-handed, had sailed in with their war dhows, attacked the Portuguese and had driven out their garrison with great slaughter.
On its head, the fish carried a water-lily and in the open palm of the flower lay three left-handed gauntlets, unpaired, andlike the statuesunimpaired.
Raman needs a left-handed blivet, he punches out the correct code number, and a copy is manufactured from the pattern in here.
Nicholai said this last, without braggadocio and without British coyness, as he might have said he was left-handed, or green-eyed.
He drew the sword left-handed, swished it expertly, twirled it, and resheathed it.