Definitions for handful
ˈhænd fʊlhand·ful

Princeton's WordNet(5.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. handful, smatteringnoun

   a small number or amount

   "only a handful of responses were received"

2. handful, fistfulnoun

   the quantity that can be held in the hand

GCIDE(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. handfulnoun

   A person, task, or situation, which is the most that one can manage; as, my two-year-old is a handful.

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. handfulnoun

   As much as the hand will grasp or contain. - Joseph Addison

2. handfulnoun

   A hand's breadth; four inches.

   Knap the tongs together about a handful from the bottom. - Francis Bacon

3. handfulnoun

   A small quantity, usually approximately equal to five, the number of fingers on a hand.

   This handful of men were tied to very hard duty. - Fuller

4. handfulnoun

   Something which can only be managed with difficulty.

   Those twins are a real handful to look after.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Handfulnoun

   Etymology: hand and full.

   1. As much as the hand can gripe or contain.

   In the park I saw a country gentleman at the side of Rosamond’s pond, pulling a handful of oats out of his pocket, and gathering the ducks about him. Freeholder, №. 44.

   2. A palm; a hand’s breadth; four inches.

   Take one vessel of silver and another of wood, each full of water, and knap the tongs together about an handful from the bottom, and the sound will be more resounding from the vessel of silver than that of wood. Francis Bacon, Natural History.

   The peaceful scabbard where it dwelt,
   The rancour of its edge had felt;
   For of the lower end two handful
   It had devour’d, it was so manful. Hudibras, p. i.

   3. A small number or quantity.

   Being in possession of the town, they had their handful to defend themselves from firing. Walter Raleigh, Apology.

   He could not, with such a handful of men, and without cannon, propose reasonably to fight a battle. Edward Hyde.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Handfulnoun

   as much as the hand will grasp or contain

2. Handfulnoun

   a hand's breadth; four inches

3. Handfulnoun

   a small quantity

4. Etymology: [AS. handfull.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. handful

   Used figuratively, in a military sense, to denote a comparatively small number; as, “a handful of men.”

Matched Categories

1. • Containerful
   • Small Indefinite Quantity

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'handful' in Nouns Frequency: #2326

How to pronounce handful?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say handful in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of handful in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of handful in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of handful in a Sentence

1. Barack Obama:

   The kind of violence, looting, destruction that we saw from a handful of individuals in Baltimore, there's no excuse for that, that's not a statement, that's not politics, that's not activism, it's just criminal behavior.

2. Matt Kaufler:

   Years of inventory that they can exploit going forward in a low cost fashion is certainly better than just having a handful of years.

3. James Lankford:

   There's a handful of people who have been here before, seen impeachment up close and personally. It's not a theory for them. There's only been two of these (previously) in the history of the country and they were in one of them.

4. Michael Lanza:

   They are in charge of the school, they should be ensuring the exclusion rules are being followed. And so, if they have a handful of unvaccinated children, that fine would increase in magnitude.

5. Richard Isaacson:

   A handful of the most respected scientists and researchers in our field have completely different opinions, whatever the decision is, it's a watershed moment for the field of Alzheimer's disease.

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