▪ I. handle, n.1
(ˈhænd(ə)l)
Forms: 1 handle, 3 hondel, 4–6 handel(l, 5 handele, handyl(l(e, andyll, 5–6 handil(l, 5– handle.
[OE. handle, deriv. of hand.]
1. a. That part of a thing which is made to be grasped by the hand in using or moving it.
| a 800 Corpus Gloss. 1904 Stiba, handle. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 104/11 Stiba, sulhhandla. a 1225 Juliana 59 Forte turnen þat hweol wið hondlen. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxviii. (1495) 933 An handell by the whyche he is heue hyther and thyther. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxiii. 249 To smyte an hors with the handill of a whippe. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. iii, He handled the swerd by the handels. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 109 b, The handles, or steeles of Husbandmennes tooles. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. i. 34 Is this a Dagger, which I see before me, The Handle toward my Hand? 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne vi. 177 Do you not consider what a handle a long beard affords to the enemy? 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xviii. 127 The handle of my hatchet. |
b. Phr. (orig. U.S. colloq.) to fly off (or off at) the handle (fig. from an axe): to be carried away by excitement; to lose self-control; now usually, to lose one's temper. Also, in same sense, to go (or be) off the handle. to go off the handle: to die.
| 1843–4 Haliburton Attaché (Farmer), He flies right off the handle for nothing. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. x. (1885) 258 My old gentleman means to be Mayor..before he goes off the handle. 1888 Kipling Phantom Rickshaw 2 Pansay went off the handle,..all that nonsense about ghosts developed. 1898 ― Day's Work 78 How are we to do our work if you fly off the handle that way? 1908 C. E. Mulford Orphan xxii. 271 He reckoned you would..get good and mad, fly off the handle, and raise h—l generally. 1915 A. Conan Doyle Valley of Fear I. v. 82 A kind of wave of jealousy would pass over him and he would be off the handle and saying the wildest things in a moment. 1932 Kipling Limits & Renewals 157 Jimmy went off the handle at once; and Nicol kept patting him on the back. 1958 Times 3 Nov. 11/7 Montgomery flew off the handle and told the Minister of Defence..that he must find out whether Bevin still stood by what he said. 1964 L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence 64 Calm down, for God's sake! Everybody's flying off the handle. What's the matter with everybody? |
c. to the handle, up to the handle: thoroughly, completely, up to the hilt. U.S. colloq.
| 1833 Louisville Publ. Adv. 9 May, He is determined to carry the contest ‘to the handle’. 1835 A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes 234 We'll all go in for you here up to the handle. 1843 T. C. Haliburton Attaché 1st Ser. I. viii. 119 Give me your figgery-four, Squire, I'll go in up to the handle for you. 1855 Knickerbocker XLV. 435 (Th., s.v. Up), He was enjoying his trip ‘up to the handle’. 1860 Ibid. LV. 415 He had for the last few years used a boy and dog as fencing material; he found it ‘a good institution’; they did the thing up to the handle. 1877 J. Habberton Jericho Road xi. 101 If he isn't playin' possum right up to the handle, then he is a fool. |
d. to give, use, the long handle (Cricket): to hit freely and continuously.
| 1888 Steel & Lyttleton Cricket ii. 77 Hold the bat nearer the top and give her the long handle. 1903 Warner in H. G. Hutchinson Cricket 71 As a rule the hitting or ‘long-handle game’, as it has been called, pays best under these circumstances [sc. on a sticky wicket]. 1928 Daily Express 20 Dec. 3/2 Ryder set about the bowlers unmercifully, using the long handle. |
2. transf. a. Something resembling a handle; in Bot. = manubrium. handle of the face: used jocularly for the nose.
| 1639 T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 39 The crocks and handles of the scull. 1673 S. C. Rules of Civility 102 A Leg of Mutton is cut above the handle, by thrusting the Knife as deep into it as one may. 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. v, Carbuncles.. which undermine the Handles of their Faces. 1887 Modern Society 27 Aug. 864 (Farmer) A restless..old lady, with an immense handle to her face. |
b. A small basket with a handle, in which soft fruit is packed for the market.
| 1900 Daily Express 30 June 5/5 French red currants reached 1s. 3d. a basket or ‘handle’. |
c. A measure of beer, approx. 1 pint. N.Z.
| 1938 R. Finlayson Brown Man's Burden 40 ‘A handle of beer,’ Mr. Puttle was saying easily to the barman. 1943 J. A. W. Bennett in Amer. Speech XVIII. 89 [In New Zealand] beer is dispensed in handles (in Australia, pots) or half-handles. 1947 ‘A. P. Gaskell’ Big Game 57 ‘He gets one handle every day,’ said George [barman]. 1956 N.Z. Listener 8 June in J. Reid Kiwi Laughs (1961) 204 They still drink beer out of handles, sixpence a pop. |
3. fig. a. That by which something is or may be taken hold of; one of two or more ways in which a thing may be taken or apprehended (in phr. to have two handles, to take a thing by the best handle, etc.); a fact or circumstance that may be ‘laid hold of’ or taken advantage of for some purpose; an occasion, opportunity, excuse, pretext.
| a 1535 More Wks. 330 (R.) He would gladly catch holde of some small handell to kepe hys money fast. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Confession iv, Fiction Doth give a hold and handle to affliction. 1679 tr. Burgersdicius his Logic ii. xiii. 56 A dilemma is..as it were a syllogism with two handles and catching one both ways. a 1716 South Serm. (1716) IV. 196 Hope and Fear are the two great Handles, by which the Will of Man is to be taken Hold of. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. viii. 224, I would not give this handle to calumny. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) II. 1061/1 He took care to give her no handle against him. 1876 Gladstone Homeric Synchr. 168 Where tradition afforded any sort of handle for the purpose. |
b. In colloq. phr. to get a handle on, to gain control over (a situation, etc.); to acquire the means of understanding or of forming an opinion about. orig. U.S.
| 1972 New Yorker 14 Oct. 131/2 Scribner..said to me, ‘I don't think people have any idea of how tough it is for anyone in this job to get a handle on anything.’ 1977 Verbatim Sept. 8/1 It is such a common saying but I can't seem to get a handle on how it started. 1977 Listener 20 Oct. 498/1 In the 1930s, it was fairly easy to get a handle on the politics of the screenwriting community. 1982 S. Bellow Dean's December xiii. 246 You're reading books, talking to academics, trying to get the right handle on things. 1984 Miami Herald 27 Mar. 26/4 I'm still trying to get a handle on our offense. |
4. a. a handle to one's name (colloq.): a title of rank, honour, or courtesy attached to the name.
| 1833 Marryat P. Simple iv, ‘Mister Coxswain! thanky, Sir, for giving me a handle to my name.’ Ibid. lxiv, ‘Captain O'Brien’, said the general. ‘Sir Terence O'Brien, if you please, general. His Majesty has given me a handle to my name’. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes xxiii, She..entertained us with stories..mentioning no persons but those who ‘had handles to their names’, as the phrase is. 1886 Illustr. Lond. News 23 Jan. 94/3 Very distinguished young women, with handles to their names. |
b. A person's name; a nickname. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1870 J. C. Duval Adv. Big-Foot Wallace xxxviii. 236, I would rather be called ‘Big-Foot Wallace’ than ‘Lying Wallace’... Such handles to my name would not be agreeable. 1927 Dialect Notes V. 449 Whut's yer handle? 1935 Amer. Speech X. 18/2 Monicker, a genuine name, as distinguished from an alias. Modern handle. 1964 D. Varaday Gara-Yaka xx. 180 One was Toothless Annie... She had come by her ‘handle’ when a hysterical grass⁓eater had kicked her teeth in. 1969 C. F. Burke God is Beautiful, Man (1970) 82 One night Jesus met a guy named Nicodemus. How's that for a handle? |
5. attrib. and Comb. Of, belonging to, or next to, the handle, as handle-end, handle-hand; forming the handle, as handle-piece, handle-stick; having a handle, as handle-cup, handle-dish, handle-net; † handle-band (see quots.); handle-bar, a transverse bar, usually curved, with a handle at each end, connected with the driving- or steering-wheel of a cycle, by which the vehicle is guided by hand; pl. the right- and left-hand parts of which this is composed; also attrib., spec. of a (usually large) moustache of handle-bar shape.
| 1532 in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 568/2 Greenwich. Welsh mats..Frail mats.. *Handleband. 99 lb. {at}/4. [1882 Ibid. IV. 578 The edges of these mats appear to have been bound with a material called handleband, which..is probably coarse hempen tape.] 1887 Graphic 3 Dec. 619 These machines..are fitted with adjustable handles and seat rod. Well finished in black enamel, with plated hubs, *handle bars, &c. 1894 Million V. 377/1 Pick up your dress with your right hand, take hold of the handle bar with your left. 1898 Science Siftings XV. 170/1 Handle-bars in which the drop is greater than four inches below the seat are..dangerous. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 15 Apr. 10/2 A contributor to the Motor Cycle advises motor-cyclists to carry handle-bar mirrors on their machines. 1908 Daily Chron. 21 Nov. 9/4 One cannot effect this unobserved change when other than handle-bar control is fitted. 1909 Captain Aug. 448/2 Home-made Handlebar-grips. 1923 H. L. Wilson Oh, Doctor! xxiv. 333 [He] threw a confident leg across the saddle and worshipfully grasped the spreading handle bars. 1933 G. P. Jackson White Spirituals 65 An elderly man with handle-bar moustache. 1941 Penguin New Writing VIII. 17 One man was huge and swarthy, with a handlebar moustache. 1953 M. Dickens No More Meadows vii. 295 Chap with the handlebar moustache. Real Pilot-Officer Prune type. 1968 Which? Aug. 231/2 Turn the handlebars—the steering should not be too tight or too loose. Ibid. 232/1 If the brake levers are too far from the handlebar grips, a child with small hands might find it difficult to work them. 1972 J. Rossiter Rope for General Dietz ii. 23 We both had the enormous handlebar moustaches de rigueur in the RAF at that time. |
| 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 260 Your Lines..of good, fine and strong *handle⁓bound Pack-thread. |
| 1717 Frezier Voy. S. Sea 65 A Wooden Instrument..consisting of a *Handle-Cup at one End, and a long Beak. |
| 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 325 The patterns he puts at the *handle-end of his swords. |
| 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 17 You must dip your *Handlehand, and mount your end-hand a little. |
| 1834 Medwin Angler in W. I. 45 Ash for the bottom or *handle-piece. |
Hence handleless a., without a handle.
| 1873 Tristram Moab ii. 22 Three handleless, saucerless blue china cups. 1887 A. Story Fifine I. 62 A young moon hanging like a handleless sickle in the sky. |
▪ II. handle, n.2
(ˈhænd(ə)l)
[f. handle v.1 1.]
The feel of or sensation produced by goods, especially textiles, when handled.
| 1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning 19 It is not merely the coarseness or fineness of the fibre which guides him, but also the softness and kind ‘handle’, as it is called. 1898 Daily News 7 Mar. 2/1 For softness and beautiful handle they have no equal. 1927 T. Woodhouse Artificial Silk 2 The handle of many artificial silk articles of commerce compares favourably with that of most of the corresponding textures in the other branches of the textile industry. 1961 Times 26 Oct. p. iv, A new type of paper..which had all the qualities—good surface and opacity, good colour and crispness of ‘handle’. 1962 Which? Aug. 240/2 The blanket..felted considerably and had a harsh ‘handle’. 1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 210 The filaments are ‘crimped’ to resemble wool, giving a warm, soft ‘handle’. 1970 Nature 17 Oct. 212/1 The ‘handle’ and ‘feel’ of fabrics. |
▪ III. handle, v.1
(ˈhænd(ə)l)
Forms: 1 handlian, hondlian, 2–4 handlen, 3 hondlien, 3–4 hondlen, 4–5 hondel, 4–6 handell, -il(l, -yll(e, 4–7 handel, 5 hondle, 6 Sc. hanel, 4– handle.
[OE. handlian = OLG. handlôn, OHG. hantalôn to take or feel with the hands (MHG. and Ger. handeln), ON. hǫndla to lay hold of; deriv. of hand n.]
I. To manipulate, manage.
1. a. trans. To subject to the action of the hand or hands: in earlier use, esp., to touch or feel with the hands, to pass the hand over, stroke with the hand; later, to take hold of, turn over, etc., in the hand, to employ the hands on or about.
to handle a horse, to get him accustomed to the hand. to handle a dog, etc., to hold and set him on in a fight or contest.
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. xxvii. 12 Gif min fæder me handlaþ and me ᵹecnæwð. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 204 Ylpes ban handlian. c 1200 Ormin 18913 Þatt menn himm mihhtenn cnawenn & hanndlenn himm. a 1225 Ancr. R. 178 He ne mei iðolien þet me hondle his sor. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 49 A weeg of siluer..þei wolen handil faste. c 1400 Gamelyn 82 [He] bi gan with his hand to hondel his berd. 1530 Palsgr. 578/1 She can handell a chylde dayntely. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 301 This merry deuill..would haue handled him with rough Mittins, as the prouerbe is. a 1698 Temple (J.), The hardness of the winter forces the breeders there to house and handle their colts six months every year. 1717 Frezier Voy. S. Sea 118 I have handled and felt it. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 992 The dogs to be handled by Mr. Edwards [at a baiting]. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. i. 41 It is impossible to handle these volumes without the deepest interest. 1890 Boldrewood Col. Reformer 93 I'll do nothing but handle him [a horse] to-day. |
| absol. c 1275 Passion of our Lord 607 in O.E. Misc. 54 Hondleþ nv and iseoþ. þat gost naueþ none bon Ne vleys. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxiii. 15 [cxv. 7] They haue handes and handle not. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. iii. 386 A Brute is supposed to speak..or to handle. |
b. intr. (for refl.) To have a (specified) feel, behaviour, action, etc. when handled.
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Hop-garden, If they handle moist or clammy when you squeeze them they are fit to bag. 1847 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VIII. i. 77 The wheat..soon handles cold and damp. 1881 Greener Gun 250 If the balance is not the same, they will handle as if of different bends. 1946 Mod. Lang. Notes LXI. 443 The use, in advertising, of the ‘potential intransitive’, in such examples as ‘this car operates, handles smoothly’. 1958 Times 23 Sept. 14/2 Sceptre, handling excellenty, rounded the mark to the sound of loud hootings. 1962 Which? Car Suppl. Oct. 142/1 It [sc. the car] handled very securely. 1972 Country Life 23 Mar. 703/3 The machine handles well, and I discovered no snags. |
2. a. trans. To ply or wield (something, e.g. a tool or weapon) with the hand; to manipulate.
| c 1205 Lay. 1338 He hihte hondlien kablen. c 1300 Havelok 347 Þe beste knicth Þat euere micte..handlen spere. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2594 Hypermnestra, That ypermystra dar nat handele a knyf. 1535 Coverdale 1 Chron. ix. [viii.] 40 The children of Vlam were valeaunt men, and coulde handell bowes. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 437 That I may see..how well you handle your penne. 1611 Bible Gen. iv. 21 Iubal..was the father of all such as handle the harpe and organ. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows v. xi. 421 More fit..to handle a mattocke then to hold a musket. 1741–3 Wesley Jrnl. (1749) 61 As soon as they could handle a knife and fork, they were set to our table. 1872 Even. Standard 10 Aug. (Farmer), Her Royal Highness..appears to handle the ribbons in a very skilful manner. |
b. Mil. (See quots.)
| 1684 R. H. School Recreat. 46 Handle your Charger, Gripe fast your Bandilier or Charger, hold it even with the Muzzle. Ibid. 48 Handle your Musket..step forward, and lay your Right-hand on the Muzzle. 1844 Regul. & Ord. Army 265 To all other Officers they [sentinels] are to carry or handle their Arms. 1853 Stocqueler Milit. Encycl., Handle Arms!..by which the soldier is directed to bring his right hand briskly up to the muzzle of his firelock, with his fingers bent inwards. |
c. Tanning. (See quot., and handler 3.)
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 764 They [sc. the hides]..are successively transferred into other pits with stronger ooze; all the while being daily handled, that is, moved up and down in the infusion. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 83 s.v. Leather, The hides..are handled, at first several times a day; that is, they are drawn out of the pits, or moved up and down in the liquor. |
d. Cricket. (See quots.)
| 1788 in H. T. Waghorn Dawn of Cricket (1906) 98 Their opponents were superior to them in handling [sc. fielding] the ball. 1797 in G. B. Buckley Fresh Light on 18th Cent. Cricket (1935) 184 Handling b. in play. 1841 Manchester Chron. 24 July, John Ogden..handled the ball well [i.e. as bowler]. |
3. a. To manage, conduct, direct, control: (a) a thing, animal, or person; † (b) a matter, course of action, etc. (sometimes = carry out, perform, transact).
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §68 Yet at manye tymes they [mares] maye drawe well, if they be well handled. 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 11 b, While these thynges were thus handeled and ordered in Englande. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. lxi. 125 b, The skirmish was valiantly handled. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iv. i. 93 Most of his actions are to be handled in the face and view of the enemie. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 17 Thus you see the Ship handled in fair weather and foul. 1679–1714 Burnet Hist. Ref. an. 1529 (R.) [To] see with what moderation as well as justice the matter was handled. 1874 G. J. Whyte-Melville Uncle J. (Tauchn.) II. ii. 3 A smarter officer never handled a regiment. 1891 Law Times XC. 463/2 Adepts in marshalling facts and handling witnesses. |
† b. refl. To conduct oneself, behave. Obs.
| 1540 R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592) A vij, So you have handled your selfe in all the order and course of your life. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Pref. 18. 1869 E. Peacock Two Deaths in Once a Week 27 Mar. 230 And one with cruel, bitter words, Handleth herself right scornfully. |
4. To use, do something with; to make due use of.
| [c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 108 We hondlen no money, but menelich faren.] 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 3 The devill desiers no better sport then to see light heads handle their heels. 1796 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., To know how to handle one's fists; to be skilful in the art of boxing. 1842 Tennyson Walking to Mail 16 He lost the sense that handles daily life. 1860 Ruskin in A. Ritchie Rec. Tennyson, etc. 29 Sept. (1892) 137 It struck me..that you depended too much on blending and too little on handling colour. |
II. To deal with, treat.
5. a. To deal with, operate upon, do something to; to treat.
| 1542 Boorde Dyetary xi. (1870) 260 It wyll make good drynke or euyl; euery thinge as it is handled. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 53 With the French, lesse [meat], but well handled. 1665 Hooke Microgr. Pref. D ij, So vast is the variety of Objects..so many different wayes there are of handling them. a 1774 Pearce Serm. III. xv. (R.), [He] fears to expose a good cause by his method of handling it. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth vii, You would be as much afraid of handling this matter, as if it were glowing iron. 1879 Athenæum 8 Nov. 603/3 The most difficult of all musical forms to handle successfully. |
b. To deal with, treat, ‘serve’, ‘use’ (in a specified way); to act in some specified way towards.
| a 1225 Juliana 46 Me seli meiden hu derstu nu hondlin me ant halden me swa hardeliche. a 1300 Cursor M. 19206 Quen þai to þeir breþer þare Had tald hu þai handeld war. c 1400 Gamelyn 10 Deth was comyn him to & handlid him ful sore. 1535 Coverdale Prov. xxiv. 29, I wil handle him, even as he hath dealte with me. 1555 Eden Decades 33 The miserable Ilande men whom they handeled moste cruelly. 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. III) 163 Lucan; whom Scaliger hath handled so hardly. 1705 W. Bosman Guinea 26 Men whose good Name and Reputation I shall always handle very tenderly. 1861 Tulloch Eng. Purit. iv. 417 He was handled twenty times worse than he had been before. 1894 R. Bridges Feast of Bacchus i. 405 Handle him kindly. |
† c. intr. To ‘deal’, act (in a specified way).
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxviii[i]. 78 Let the proude be confounded, which handle so falsly agaynst me. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 616 They handle together with good faith. |
6. a. To deal with or treat in speech or writing; to treat of, discuss; † formerly sometimes = to confer about, discuss in a deliberative asssembly.
| c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 304/24 Þa þing þe we nu handledon. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 94 For þys skyle hyt may be seyde ‘Handlyng synne’. 1480 Caxton Descr. Brit. 30 The cause was handled and ytreated bitwene the forsaid primates. 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 41 The Preacher handeled his matter learnedly. 1621 H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 126 To discusse the matter of oathe..which is appoynted to be handled that daye. 1641 Wilkins Math. Magick i. ii. (1648) 12 Astronomy handles the quantity of heavenly motions. 1725 Watts Logic iv. ii. §6 The very same theme may be handled..in several different methods. 1868 Nettleship Ess. Browning Introd. 1, I could not within reasonable limits handle both criticism and interpretation. |
† b. intr. or absol. To treat, discourse, confer.
| 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. x. 378 Tha hanelit anent the Mariage of the Quene. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. ii. xxvi. 177 In the Chapter which handleth of exiccated Members. 1673 Wood Life 12 Oct., They finding that I had handled upon that point, Peers altered it. |
7. To treat artistically; to portray or represent (in a particular style).
| 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 17 A deuyll made of copper, and that so workemanly handeled that he semeth like flaming fire. 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars vi. xliii, The story of his fortunes past In lively pictures neatly handled was. 1850 J. Leitch Müller's Anc. Art §204. 193 The countenance is always handled in a less spirited manner. 1860 Kingsley Misc. II. 77 Our painting is only good when it handles landscapes and animals. |
8. To have in hand or pass through one's hands in the way of business; to trade or deal in; to buy and sell. U.S.
| 1888 C. D. Warner in Harper's Mag. Apr. 776/1 It does not pay to ‘handle’ books, or to keep the run of new publications. 1889 Pall Mall G. 13 Feb. 3/1 Large jobbing houses who handle all the new and standard publications in considerable numbers to supply small dealers. 1897 Glasgow Her. 12 Feb. 7/2 Export houses which handle steel rails. |
Hence handlable, -eable (ˈhændləb(ə)l), † ˈhandlesome (obs.), adjs., capable of being handled.
| 1611 Cotgr., Maniable, tractable, wieldable, handleable. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 47 All feelers numb, nothing handlesom. 1893 Field 25 Feb. 297/1 She [a boat] must be handleable by one man in all ways and weathers. |
▸ trans. To cope with (an experience or situation) satisfactorily; to possess the mental or emotional resources necessary to accept or face up to (something challenging or difficult). Freq. in negative or interrogative contexts, as in I can't handle it, do you think you can handle it?, and similar phrases.
| 1929 R. S. Lynd & H. M. Lynd Middletown xvi. 222 The invention of the motion picture is introducing the city's population..into types of vivid experience which they..have no training to handle. 1971H. S. Thompson Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas viii, in Rolling Stone 11 Nov. 44/3 Ignore that nightmare in the bathroom. Just another ugly refugee from the Love Generation, some doom-struck gimp who couldn't handle the pressure. 1985 TV Times 31 Aug. 4/1 The public was not ready to see me kiss Michael Caine. People couldn't handle it. 2000 Book Sept.–Oct. 20/3 Writing Demolition Angel was like writing Requiem—just as hard, but he had shown that he could handle it, and he kind of liked this Big Book riff, he was getting a feel for the larger, darker issues. |
▪ IV. handle, v.2
[f. handle n.1]
trans. To furnish with a handle; to affix the handle to.
| 1600 T. Masham in Hakluyt's Voy. III. 695 Wee were informed, that their bowes were handled with golde. 1701 C. Wolley Jrnl. in N. York (1860) 52 With a flint, handled the Indian way. 1888 Bell Later Age of Stone 36 You may now ask how these implements were handled. |