handle

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The part of an object that you hold to use or carry it.

   I picked up the hammer by the handle.

2. 2
   verb

   To deal with a person, problem, or situation.

   She handled the difficult customer very calmly.

3. 3
   verb

   To touch, hold, or move something with your hands.

   Please don't handle the fruit unless you're going to buy it.

4. 4
   noun

   A name or nickname used online or on the radio.

   What's your handle on social media?

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Handle is an Old English formation based on hand. It was so called because a handle is the part of an object held in the hand.

From Middle English handlen, from Old English handlian (“to handle, feel, deal with, discuss”), from Proto-West Germanic *handulōn, from Proto-Germanic *handulōną (“to take, grip, feel”), equivalent to hand + -le. Cognate with West Frisian handelje, hanneljen, hanljen (“to handle, treat”), Dutch handelen (“to handle, deal, act, negotiate”), German handeln (“to act, trade, negotiate, behave”), Swedish handla (“to buy, trade, deal”), Icelandic höndla (“to handle”).

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary