▪ I. handwrite, n. Sc., Ir., and U.S.
(ˈhændraɪt)
[f. hand n. + write n.1 5. Cf. handwrit and hand of writ, write (hand n. 16 b).]
Handwriting.
| 1483– in Dict. Older Scot. Tongue. 1617 in W. K. Tweedie Sel. Biogr. (1847) I. 95, I receaved a letter..whilk albeit it wanted a subscription, yet by the handwrite..I knew to be yours. 1638 S. Rutherford Lett. (1664) 14 His hand write, & his seal. 1688 in R. Wodrow Hist. Suff. Ch. Scot. (1722) II. 633 You..adhered to your preaching Book, and declared the same to be your own Hand-write. 1836 B. Tucker Partisan Leader (1861) 16 (Th.), He has got a paper in the captain's hand-write to show him the way. 1856 W. G. Simms Eutaw 429 (Th.), Thar's his name in handwrite!.. Hyar's a boy that reads this hand⁓write. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Antrim 49 Whose hand write is that? 1907 N. Munro Daft Days xv, She knew she could never sustain the standard of hand-write, spelling, and information Bud had established in her first epistle. 1923 Dialect Notes V. 209, I know his hand write. |
▪ II. ˈhandwrite, v. rare.
[prob. a back-formation from hand-written, written by hand, like hand-made, etc.: see hand n. 64 b.]
trans. To write with the hand, or with one's own hand.
| 1849–53 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ix. 223 A fine psalter..hand-written. 1871 Athenæum 13 May 584 To prove that Francis hand-wrote the Junian letters is not to demonstrate that he composed them. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic xcv, I myself Hand-write what's legible yet picturesque. |