Definitions for HANDFUL
ˈhænd fʊlhand·ful

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 2 votes

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

GCIDERate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. handfulnoun

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

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. handful

   A handful generally refers to the amount or number of something that can fit or be held in one hand. It can also be used figuratively to describe a person, task, or situation that is difficult to manage or control.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 GazetteerRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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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. David Anber:

   I'm representing the handful of people who are either in custody right now or been released from custody, and then we are going to be representing them in court, they’ve been pursued by the government and accused of crimes or a quasi-criminal offenses. And my job is to now come in here and defend them of those charges. And then there's sort of the second category of the people who might not have been charged with anything but were mistreated by the police in a way that was contrary to the code of conduct.

2. John Koenig:

   Your life is a highlight reel: a gradual search for a handful of memories.

3. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker:

   The nation as a whole is not going to elect the next president, 12 states are, wisconsin's one of them. I'm sitting in another one right now, New Hampshire. There's going to be Colorado, where I was born, Iowa, where I lived, Ohio, Florida, a handful of other states. In total, it's about 11 or 12 states that are going elect the next president.

4. Willie Delwiche:

   Small caps this week are starting to act better and gain interest from investors, broad participation in the market is giving people a sense of ease right now that it's not just a handful of companies moving higher.

5. Curt Cashour:

   Whether the handful of events took place close to a decade ago or 15-20 years ago, Secretary Wilkie gave his best recollection of his participation in them, and emphasized that they were strictly historical in nature, almost all official and bipartisan, and he stopped participating in them once the issue became divisive, he was not aware that the remarks had been published, and, as he stated, he did not keep copies of the remarks.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=HANDFUL
2. ^ GCIDE
   https://gcide.gnu.org.ua/?q=HANDFUL
3. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Handful
4. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=HANDFUL
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/HANDFUL
7. ^ Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/59563/pg59563-images.html
8. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=HANDFUL