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short-handled

short-handled

1 4.4
A tool with a handle shorter than usual for close work
  • adjective
translation icon : de mango corto
  • The gardener used a short-handled rake to gather the leaves more easily.
  • a short-handled spade
  • a short-handled shovel
  • a short-handled spear

Examples

  • The wall volley test required striking a whiffle ball continuously with a short-handled plastic paddle against a wall space 12 feet by 12 feet from a minimum distance of 8 feet.

    Academic text (1993)
  • It was Bronwyn, but before she reached me, a pursuing warrior threw a double-bladed, short-handled ax overhand, and it hit her in the back.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • He has a curved knife in one hand and a short-handled spear in the other.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Gray Beard raises a short-handled lance and hurls it like a javelin.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • He lunges with a short-handled spear - ARAGORN

    Fiction book (1996)
  • "The janitor was holding a short-handled rake and raking up dry pine needles into a rubber basket."

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Using short-handled shovels, often digging at night to avoid detection, engineers created a network of trenches, tunnels, and underground chambers that stretched from the sea almost 400.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Double-barbed dart tags were inserted beside the dorsal fin into the musculature using a short-handled insertion needle.

    Academic text (1994)
  • He's taken what is useful from the bodies of the hunters—an otter-skin water bag, two short-handled spears, and a bedroll made from an animal pelt.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • He preferred the short-handled spade for digging in tight spaces.

Antonyms

2 3.2

A tool like a broom or pan with a longer handle to reach high places without bending

How Long-Handled

long-handled
2 3.2
short-handled
1 4.4

Surface Forms

short-handled positive

Morphology

short-handled = short + handled (transparent) = short + handle + ed

The adjective is transparently a compound of 'short' + 'handled' (itself handle + -ed), so the meaning 'having a shorter-than-usual handle' follows directly from the parts.

Etymology

Short-handled comes from the parts short ('not long') and handle ('the part you hold'), so it literally means 'having a handle that is shorter than usual'. That's why a short-handled brush or spade is useful for working in tight spaces.