right hand
Also right-hand, righthand. Forms: see right a. and hand n.
[f. right a. 18. Cf. Fris. rjuchterhán, (M)Du. rechter hand, G. rechte hand.]
1. a. That hand which is normally the stronger of the two. (Opposed to left hand.)
| c 1000 Nicodemus xxi, Se Hælend..be ðære ryht handa me ᵹenam. c 1200 Ormin 8181 And himm wass sett inn hiss rihht hannd An dere kineȝerrde. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 11 His riȝt hond he liet of-smite. a 1300 Cursor M. 1618 Be his right hand he suar his ath. 1340–70 Alisaunder 1174 He raught forthe his right hand & his rigge frotus. a 1400–50 Alexander 784* With hys right hande hym rodely [he] strakez. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 150 He..hit him vnder the eir with his richt hand. 1535 Coverdale Tobit vii. 13 So he toke the righthande of his daughter, and gaue her in to the right hande of Tobias. c 1585 R. Browne Answ. Cartwright 3 This he shoulde houlde in his right hande. 1635–56 Cowley Davideis i. 2 That right hand which held the Crook before. 1670 C. Gataker in Gataker's Antid. Errour To Rdr. B ij b, Whom I desire to receive with the right hand, that which is offered with the right hand. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4784/1 On Condition that he should give the Right Hand to the Marquis de Prié in his own House. 1781 Cowper Anti-Thelyphth. 169 To horse! he cried, or by this good right hand..I smite you. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xix, She let her right hand fall on his shoulder. 1879 Browning Halbert & Hob 4 Right-hand with left-hand linked,—He faced his son submissive. |
| attrib. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 51, I desire nothing more..than that God would pull out right-eye sins, and cut off right-hand sins. 1680 Roscommon Poems (1780) 78 Give my exalted soul a place Among thy chosen right⁓hand race. 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy v. xxix, He set his right-hand thumb upon the bow of the saddle. 1805 Southey Madoc in W. xi, The Prince..gave to Caradoc the right-hand pledge. 1884 Harper's Mag. Dec. 114/2 She started from home with two right-hand gloves. |
b. transf. as a symbol of friendship or alliance. (Rendering L.
dextræ.)
| 1591 Savile Tacitus, Hist. i. liv. 31 The Lingones..had sent giftes to the Legions, Right-hands in token of mutual loue. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. ii. xiv. (1622) 53 Calling to mind their friendship..with the Romans, and desiring that they might renew right hands. |
c. transf. A person of usefulness or importance; an efficient or indispensable helper or aid.
| c 1528–37 Ld. J. Butler in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 48 O Connor..who hath maried the erle of Kildare's doghter, is his right hand. 1581 G. Elliot (title), A very true Report of the apprehension..of that arch-Papist Edmund Campion, the Pope his right hand. 1615 J. Stephens Satyr. Ess. 329 A Lawyers simple Clarke Is his Masters right hand, if hee bee not left-handed. 1665 Pepys Diary 22 July, It is strange to see how poor..Backewell is like to be put to it in his absence, Mr. Shaw, his right hand, being ill. 1713 Steele Guard. No. 5 ¶4 For Mrs. Jane is the Right-hand of her Mother. 1765 Welldon (title), The Smith's Right Hand, or a Complete Guide to the Various Branches of all sorts of Iron Work. 1846 Grote Greece (1869) I. 57 [Hêphaestos] is indispensable as the right-hand and instrument of the gods. 1847 Tennyson Princess iii. 21 Lady Psyche was the right hand now, And she the left, or not, or seldom used. |
2. a. The right side.
b. The direction towards the right.
= right n.1 17 a.
| c 1205 Lay. 14734 Heo iseȝen an heore riht hond a swiþe fæier æit-lond. a 1240 Creed in O.E. Hom. I. 217 Þer he sit o godes rithond feder al-mihti. a 1300 Cursor M. 6325 He loked als on his righthand. a 1340 Hampole Psalter cxli. 5, I byheld til þe righthand. c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1769 The iiide on the ryght hande here hit ys to the tolde. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xv. 56 Syr Arthur..stered his hors here & there on the right hand & on the lyft hand. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 26 He left the right way toward Pomfret,..and toke the way on the right hand. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 42 Turne vpon your right hand at the next turning. 1661 Pepys Diary 23 Apr., My wife [was] in one little one, on the right hand. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 82 Pluto. Two martyrs, say'st thou? Where the devil are they? Pope. On my right-hand. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton (1907) 99 They might continue as far to the right hand, and to the left as far. 1837 G. Phillips Syriac Gram. 1 The Syrians in common with many other Eastern nations, read from the right-hand to the left. 1863 M. Howitt tr. F. Bremer's Greece I. 2 On the right hand we discern Mount Athos. |
| attrib. 1592 Kyd Sp. Trag. i. i, Three waies there were: that on the right hand side Was ready way unto the fore⁓said fields. a 1600 Flodden F. v. (1664) 46 In Right-hand wing did warlike wend. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 633 Som times He scours the right hand coast. 1757 W. Wilkie Epigoniad ii. 33 [It] struck the right-hand courser to the ground. 1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornw., etc. x. 305 What the miner terms a ‘right hand heave’. 1887 Rider Haggard Allan Quatermain ii, I made out several dark heads gliding away towards the right-hand bank. |
† c. The position of honour.
to take the right hand of, to take or assume precedence of.
Obs.| 1652 Seas. Exp. 9 If..the time..be made Umpier of Precedency, Geneva must take the right hand of You. 1682 News fr. France 2 It is true, the Precedence was then granted to the Bishops of Rome,..and the Empire carrying its name from Rome, no wonder if the Bishop..had the Right-hand still reserved to him. 1704 N. N. tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. I. 188 The Scotch Nobility..said 'twas a very hard Case, that a poor Scholar..should afterwards by Virtue of a Bishoprick.. not only assume as good a Title as his Master, but even pretend, upon some Occasions, to take the Right-hand of him. |
d. Of errors:
on the right hand, on the right side, in the right direction. Also
attrib. ?
Obs.| 1693 Dryden Persius vi. (1697) 490 One Error, tho' on the right hand, yet a great one, is, That they are no Helps to a Virtuous Life. 1785 Wesley Wks. (1872) XIII. 95 Miss Cooke leans to the right-hand error—It is safer to think too little than too much of yourself. |
3. right-hand man:
† a. A soldier holding a position of responsibility or command on the right of a troop of horse.
Obs. b. = sense 1 c.
| a. 1665 Pepys Diary 4 Dec., Not only..being admitted into the Duke of Albemarle's guards..but also..put as a right⁓hand man, and other marks of special respect. 1710 Steele & Addison Tatler No. 253 ¶1 Mr. Alexander Truncheon, who is their Right-Hand Man in the Troop [of horse guards]. 1721 Lond. Gaz. No. 5925/3 He..was lately a Right Hand Man in the 4th Troop of Horse-Guards. |
| b. a 1802 Earl Richard xxiii. in Scott Border Minst. (1869) 362 O wha has slain my right-hand man, That held my hawk and hound? 1809 Malkin Gil Blas vii. vi, I am in want of a secretary..: he shall be my right-hand man. 1841 Marryat Poacher xxii, Little Peter was her right-hand man. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 145 He will go with me as stockman and right-hand man generally. |
4. right-hand drive, a steering system in a motor vehicle in which the steering wheel and other controls are fitted on the right side instead of on the left; also
attrib.; so
right-hand driving vbl. n.;
right-hand(-laid) rope: (see
quot. 1867);
right-hand screw, one with the thread turning to the right;
right-hand lock (see
quot. 1875).
| 1841 Dana Seaman's Man. 8 Parcel the score of the dead⁓eye, and heave the shroud taut round it, turning in with the sun, if right-hand-laid rope. Ibid. 34 Right-hand rope must be coiled with the sun. 1859 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 89 A metal fuze with a right-hand screw. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Right-Hand Rope, that which is laid up and twisted with the sun, that is to the right hand. 1875 Knight Mech. Dict. 1340/2 The right-hand and left-hand locks are for doors to swing to the right or to the left. 1912 Horseless Age 21 Feb. 375/2 In right hand drive cars it [sc. the steering column] is located directly in front of the right hand front passenger. 1936 M. Kennedy Together & Apart iii. 178 ‘But don't you,’ she asked, ‘find the right-hand driving rather confusing?’ ‘I don't mind it. But in Sweden it's left-hand.’ 1940 R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely viii. 55 The car had a right-hand drive. 1956 [see left hand 3]. 1965 Listener 10 June 878/2 The two latest French saloons, the Renault 16 and the Peugeot 204, did not appear at Silverstone last Wednesday because right-hand drive versions are not yet available. 1969 J. Leasor They don't make them like that any More vi. 185, I thought that all Mercedes exported to England before the war had right-hand drive? 1974 A. Price Other Paths to Glory ii. viii. 208 Got ‘GB’ in the back..the Jag had—that's English. An' right-hand drive—that's English too. |