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handsome

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishhandsum,hondsom, equivalent tohand +‎-some. CompareDutchhandzaam,German Low Germanhandsaam. The original sense was ‘easy to handle or use’, hence ‘suitable’ and ‘apt, clever’ (mid 16th century), giving rise to the current appreciatory senses (late 16th century).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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handsome (comparativemorehandsomeorhandsomer,superlativemosthandsomeorhandsomest)

  1. Having apleasingappearance,good-looking,attractive,particularly:
    That is onehandsome tree you've got there.
    • 1661–1669 (date written; Gregorian calendar),Samuel Pepys,Mynors Bright, transcriber, “(please specify the entry date)”, inHenry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor,The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume(please specify |volume=I to X), London:George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge:Deighton Bell & Co., published1893–1899,→OCLC:
      I saw, I confess, some good dancing and somehandsome women, which was all my pleasure.
    • 1886 October –1887 January,H[enry] Rider Haggard,She: A History of Adventure, London:Longmans, Green, and Co., published1887,→OCLC:
      At the farther end of this great lamp-lit apartment was another doorway closed in with heavy Oriental-looking curtains, quite unlike those that hung before the doors of our own rooms, and here stood two particularlyhandsome girl mutes, their heads bowed upon their bosoms and their hands crossed in an attitude of humble submission.
    • 1916,On H.R. 4683, site for post-office building at Chicago, Ill, page117:
      On the opposite side of the street, on the corner, is the city hall, a veryhandsome building of brick and stone.
    • 1917, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett,The Darling and Other Stories‎[1],Project Gutenberg,→ISBN, page71:
      The mother, Ekaterina Pavlovna, who at one time had beenhandsome, but now, asthmatic, depressed, vague, and over-feeble for her years, tried to entertain me with conversation about painting. Having heard from her daughter that I might come to Shelkovka, she had hurriedly recalled two or three of my landscapes which she had seen in exhibitions in Moscow, and now asked what I meant to express by them.
    • 2006, Richard Leviton,The Gods in Their Cities, iUniverse,→ISBN, page44:
      Often, human mortals describe their visits to the Tuatha's [places] in similar terms: they were great bright places, occupied by exceedinglyhandsome men and women, that sported wonderful crystal chairs, inexhaustible supplies of mead or ale ...
    1. Of a man or boy:attractivelymanly,having apleasingface andoveralleffect.
      I was struck dumb. Here was the mosthandsome man I’d ever seen in my life coming out of the surf.
      • 1964,Ernest Hemingway, “Scott Fitzgerald”, inA Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.:Charles Scribner’s Sons,→OCLC,page149:
        Scott was a man then who looked like a boy with a face betweenhandsome and pretty. He had very fair wavy hair, a high forehead, excited and friendly eyes and a delicate long-lipped Irish mouth that, on a girl, would have been the mouth of a beauty. His chin was well built and he had good ears and ahandsome, almost beautiful, unmarked nose.
    2. Of a woman:statuesque,beautiful in amasculine orotherwiseimposingway.
      She was eitherhandsome or her uniform created a flattering effect but—being very nearsighted—he couldn't tell from this distance.
  2. Good,appealing,appropriate.
    • 2011 November 5, Phil Dawkes, “QPR 2 - 3 Man City”, inBBC Sport‎[2]:
      City have lapped up the plaudits this season for a series ofhandsome wins but manager Roberto Mancini has demanded that his side also learn to grind out results when they do not play well. He now has an example to point to.
    1. (of weather)Fine,clear andbright.
      • 1808, John Pinkerton,A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, page513:
        Sunday, the sixth, we heaved up our sheet-anchor again, the day beginning with little wind, and continuedhandsome weather till eight at night, when the wind came to S. S. W. and it fell a snowing.
      • 1911,Farm Chemicals, page60:
        The story goes that James Whitcomb Riley, the poet, on a beautiful spring day, in making his way from his home to his office, was accosted by numerous friends on the way who were exclaiming most extravagantly on the beauty of the day. It was "Good morning, Mr. Riley, a fine day;" "Good morning, Mr. Riley,[…] ahandsome day;"[…].
    2. Suitable or fit in action; marked with propriety and ease; appropriate.
      ahandsome style
      • 1713, Henry Felton,A Dissertation on Reading the Classics and Forming a Just Style:
        Easiness andhandsome address in writing.
      • 1815 December (indicated as1816), [Jane Austen], chapter II, inEmma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] forJohn Murray,→OCLC:
        For a few days, every morning visit in Highbury included some mention of thehandsome letter Mrs. Weston had received. “I suppose you have heard of thehandsome letter Mr. Frank Churchill has written to Mrs. Weston? I understand it was a veryhandsome letter, indeed. Mr. Woodhouse told me of it. Mr. Woodhouse saw the letter, and he says he never saw such ahandsome letter in his life.”
  3. Generous ornoble in character.
  4. Ample; moderately large.
    Synonyms:hefty,substantial
    ahandsome salary
    • 1779, Vicesimus Knox,Essays Moral and Literary:
      He[…] accumulated ahandsome sum of money.
  5. (obsolete) Of people and things:dexterous;skillful.

Usage notes

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Deriving from its original senses ofskillful,capable,deft,clever, and otherwisehaving things wellin hand,handsome as a synonym ofgood-looking was initially primarily focused on the well-proportioned and noble aspect of a person embodying those positive traits. Over the course of the 19th & 20th centuries, it developed into a more general and gendered idea of male beauty distinguished from the feminine beauty thought to be implied by words likepretty,lovely,beautiful, and so on. In reference to men, it continues to have a more aesthetic and general sense thanhot,manly,sexy, and similar words primarily focused on sexual attraction. In reference to women, present use ofhandsome can seem old fashioned; when it does appear, depending on context, it may continue the original sense of powerful or statuesque beauty or imply a mannish or otherwise unusual form of beauty. Similarly, present use ofhandsome for inanimate objects can seem awkward; when it does appear, it usually implies the object is well built, cute and well proportioned.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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of man: attractive
of a woman: striking, impressive and elegantly proportioned, though not conventionally beautiful
willing to give and share unsparingly—seegenerous
moderately large
dexterous—seedexterous

Verb

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handsome (third-person singular simple presenthandsomes,present participlehandsoming,simple past and past participlehandsomed)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To render handsome.

References

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  1. ^“handsome”, inDictionary.com Unabridged,Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  2. ^“handsome”, inCollins English Dictionary.
  3. ^“handsome”, inMerriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

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