Handful

/ˈhæn(d)fʊl/ · noun

Meaning

The amount that a hand will grasp or contain..

Definitions by Sense

1. The amount that a hand will grasp or contain.
2. (obsolete) A hand's breadth; four inches.
3. A small number, usually approximately five.
4. A group or number of things; a bunch.
5. (informal) Something which can only be managed with difficulty.
6. (slang) A five-year prison sentence.

Example Sentences

I put two or three corns in my mouth, liked it, stole a handful, went into my chamber, chewed it, and for two months after never failed taking toll of every pennyworth of oatmeal that came into the house: […]

Knap the tongs together about a handful from the bottom.

This handful of men were tied to very hard duty.

The names of a number of the most famous North American railroads could be found in the north-east; Pennsylvania, New York Central, Baltimore & Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, and the Norfolk & Western, to name but a handful.

You tell me the velocity of a baseball as it leaves Derek Jeter's bat, and I can use the laws of physics to calculate where it will land a handful of seconds later.

Was it deliberate that the first week of October 1961 was chosen to conduct a national survey of passenger usage? Why October of all months, when the holiday season was over and families back at work and at school? Was this a fiddling of the figures to make an unfair case against rail-dependent resorts such as those in the West Country, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, where previously overloaded summer services would now only have a handful of locals on board?

But, aunt, she must have had some kind of education, her accent was so pure, her English so unfaulty. The other girl dropped her h's by handfuls, and made some very wild confusion in her native etymology.

Those twins are a real handful to look after.

Synonyms for handful

Antonyms for handful

Related Words

Word Forms

• handfuls
• handsful
• handfull

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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