little hand
3
2.2
- noun
:
manecilla
- It used to be that the ending of school was a clock thing: the big hand on twelve and the little hand on three.
Examples
-
Little hand between three and four.
Fiction book (1998) -
The little hand's on the 7 and the big hand's on the 9.
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The little hand is on the eight.
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The little hand was on the ten.
Fiction book (1997) -
Oh, big hand's on the twelve, little hand's on the five, can't miss it.
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On his new Aladdin watch, the big hand was at the bottom, but the little hand pointed between two and three.
Fiction book (1998) -
The little hand on the clock points to 3, indicating it's three o'clock.
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To tell the time, check where the little hand is located on the dial.
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During the lesson, she explained how the little hand shows the hour on a clock.
Synonyms
1
1.8
The shorter hand on a clock or watch that shows the hour
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a small hand' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'little' (small/young) with 'hand' (body part), following a standard adjective + noun composition that a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand. The only potential confusion is the provided dictionary gloss of 'hand' as a clock pointer (where 'little hand' can refer to the hour hand), but that is a sense ambiguity rather than idiomatic opacity.
Etymology
Little hand comes from the short hand on a clock that shows the hours. Because it is smaller than the long minute hand, people called it 'little', so little hand means the hour hand on a clock.