handle
pronunciation
How to pronounce handle in British English:
UK [ˈhændl]
How to pronounce handle in American English:
US [ˈhændl]
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- Noun:
- the appendage to an object that is designed to be held in order to use or move it
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- Verb:
- be in charge of, act on, or dispose of
- interact in a certain way
- deal with verbally or in some form of artistic expression
- touch, lift, or hold with the hands
- handle effectively
- show and train
Word Origin
- handle
- handle: [OE] Etymologically, a handle is nothing more or less than ‘something to be held in the hand’. Likewise the verb handle, together with Germanic relatives like German handeln and Swedish handla, began life as ‘hold, touch, feel with the hands’ (the German and Swedish verbs have since lost this original literal meaning, and now have only the metaphorical senses ‘deal with’, ‘trade’, etc).=> hand
- handle (n.)
- Old English handle "a handle" (plural handla), formed from hand (n.) with instrumental suffix -el (1) indicating a tool in the way thimble was formed from thumb, spindle from spin, treadle from tread, etc. The slang sense of "nickname" is first recorded 1870, originally U.S., from earlier expressions about adding a handle to (one's) name (1833), that is, a title such as Mister or Sir. To fly off the handle (1833) is a figurative reference to an ax head (to be off the handle "be excited" is recorded from 1825, American English). To get a handle on "get control of" is recorded by 1919.
- handle (v.)
- Middle English hondlen, handlen, "touch with the hands, hold in the hands, fondle, pet," also "to deal with, treat, manhandle," from Old English handlian "to touch or move with the hands," also "deal with, discuss;" formed from hand (n.), perhaps with a frequentative suffix, as fondle from fond. Cognate with Old Norse höndla "to seize, capture," Danish handle "to trade, deal," Old High German hantalon "feel, touch; manage," German handeln "to bargain, trade." Related: Handled; handling. Meaning "to act towards" (someone, in a certain manner, usually with hostility or roughness) is from c. 1200. The commercial sense "to trade or deal in" was weaker in English than in some other Germanic languages, but it strengthened in American English (by 1888) from the notion of something passing through one's hands, and see handler.
Example
- 1. Handle one task at a time .
- 2. And we ask if they 're mature enough to handle it ?
- 3. He stopped and grasped the handle of the door .
- 4. Next : how a pump handle changed everything .
- 5. The rubber grips onto the lid as the soft handle cushions your hand and absorbs pressure .