ˈhandbreadth
Also 6 handbreth, -breath, 8– hand's breadth, handsbreadth.
A Unit of lineal measure in many countries and periods, founded on the width of the adult human hand, a palm; formerly estimated as one-fourth of a foot, but now as four inches.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings vii. 26 The thicknesse was an handbreth. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 56 A Hande breadth. Conteyninge in it 4 Fingers. A Fote. Conteyninge in it 4 Hande breadth. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lxvi. 267 Within nine hand-bredths of the Water. 1843 Macaulay Lays Anc. Rome, Horatius xlv, The good sword stood a hand-breadth out Behind the Tuscan's head. 1875 G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recollect. iv. (1879) 65 A handsbreadth behind the girths. |