glad hand
- noun
- /ɡlæd hænd/
- Informal
:
saludo efusivo
- Chet, give Sam Stanley the glad hand.
Examples
-
She always knows how to give a glad hand when meeting new clients to establish goodwill.
-
GLAD HAND:
-
At the charity event, the politician made sure to give every guest the glad hand to encourage donations.
-
During the campaign, he was known for his ability to glad hand with potential voters and make them feel welcome.
Synonyms
283
1.0
A friendly word or action you use when you meet someone
117
1.0
A short greeting where two people hold and shake hands
81
1.0
A friendly greeting or being gladly received by others
33
2.8
A warm, eager welcome
31
1.0
A friendly greeting that makes someone feel pleased and at ease
12
2.7
To touch or slap someone's raised hand with your own to celebrate
2
2.7
Holding and moving another person's hand as a greeting or sign of agreement
1
1.0
A small movement of the hand to say hello and show kindness
1
1.0
A warm greeting that makes someone feel welcome
1
2.9
A firm hold of another person's hand as a greeting or agreement
A warm welcome you give by opening your arms to hold someone
How Warm
31
1.0
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
Combining 'glad' (friendly, pleased) with 'hand' (gesture/handshake) makes the basic sense of a friendly greeting reasonably inferable to a B1 learner, so the core idea is partly compositional. However the idiomatic nuance that such greetings are often insincere or calculated, and the specialized sense of 'hand' as a greeting/gesture, are not fully predictable from the parts, so it is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Glad hand may come from the image of someone offering a warm hand and a glad smile to seem friendly. One popular story says politicians and salespeople used this practiced touch to win people over, so glad hand now means 'a warm greeting' that can be insincere or meant to gain an advantage.