Meaning

(obsolete) A hold, grasp; custody, power of confining or keeping..

Definitions by Sense

1. (obsolete) A hold, grasp; custody, power of confining or keeping.
2. (obsolete) A contract, agreement, covenant; specifically betrothal, espousal.
3. (transitive) To pledge; to bind.
4. (transitive, Scotland, archaic or historical except Wicca) To betroth by joining hands, in order to allow for cohabitation before the celebration of marriage; to marry provisionally.
5. (obsolete) Fast by contract; betrothed by joining hands.
6. (rare) Strong; steadfast.

Example Sentences

And the remembrancer of her to hold The hand-fast to her lord. I have given him that

No, Sir Priest or Sir Preacher, Catherine is not my wife— […] she is not my wife, but she is handfasted with me, and that makes her as honest a woman. [...] When we are handfasted, as we term it, we are man and wife for a year and a day—that space gone by, each may chuse another mate, or, at their pleasure, may call the priest to marry them for life—and this we call handfasting.

Would the lass but consent to go abroad in the unhallowed place at this awful season and hour of the night, she was as firmly handfasted to the Devil as if she had signed a bond with her own blood; […]

A vyrgine made handfast to Christ.

Word Forms

• handfasts
• handfasting
• handfasted
• more handfast
• most handfast

Related Words

When Should You Use Handfast?

Use handfast when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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