Word Meanings - BACKHANDED - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. With the hand turned backward; as, a backhanded blow. 2. Indirect; awkward; insincere; sarcastic; as, a backhanded compliment. 3. Turned back, or inclining to the left; as, a backhanded letters.

Related words: (words related to BACKHANDED)

• BACKHANDER
  A backhanded blow.
• TURNSTONE
  Any species of limicoline birds of the genera Strepsilas and Arenaria, allied to the plovers, especially the common American and European species . They are so called from their habit of turning up small stones in search of mollusks and
• TURNINGNESS
  The quality of turning; instability; tergiversation. Sir P. Sidney.
• TURNING
  The pieces, or chips, detached in the process of turning from the material turned. (more info) 1. The act of one who, or that which, turns; also, a winding; a bending course; a fiexure; a meander. Through paths and turnings often trod
• AWKWARD SQUAD
  A squad of inapt recruits assembled for special drill.
• TURN-SICK
  Giddy. Bacon.
• TURNVEREIN
  A company or association of gymnasts and athletes.
• TURNHALLE
  A building used as a school of gymnastics.
• TURNSPIT
  A small breed of dogs having a long body and short crooked legs. These dogs were formerly much used for turning a spit on which meat was roasting. (more info) 1. One who turns a spit; hence, a person engaged in some menial office. His lordship
• TURNSOLE
  + sole the sun, L. sol. See Turn, Solar, a., and cf. A plant of the genus Heliotropium; heliotrope; -- so named because its flowers are supposed to turn toward the sun. The sunflower. A kind of spurge . The euphorbiaceous plant Chrozophora
• TURN-BUCKLE
  A loop or sleeve with a screw thread at one end and a swivel at the other, -- used for tightening a rod, stay, etc. A gravitating catch, as for fastening a shutter, the end of a chain, or a hasp.
• TURNCOAT
  One who forsakes his party or his principles; a renegade; an apostate. He is a turncoat, he was not true to his profession. Bunyan.
• BACKWARD; BACKWARDS
  1. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward. 2. Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward. 3. On the back, or with the back downward. Thou wilt fall backward. Shak. 4. Toward, or in, past time or events;
• TURNBULL'S BLUE
  The double cyanide of ferrous and ferric iron, a dark blue amorphous substance having a coppery luster, used in dyeing, calico printing, etc. Cf. Prussian blue, under Prussian.
• TURNERY
  1. The art of fashioning solid bodies into cylindrical or other forms by means of a lathe. 2. Things or forms made by a turner, or in the lathe. Chairs of wood, the seats triangular, the backs, arms, and legs loaded with turnery. Walpole.
• TURNTABLE
  A large revolving platform, for turning railroad cars, locomotives, etc., in a different direction; -- called also turnplate.
• TURNDOWN
  1. Capable of being turned down; specif. , designating, or pertaining to, an incandescent lamp with a small additional filament which can be made incandescent when only a small amount of light is required. 2. Made to wear with the upper part
• INCLINING
  See 3
• BACKHAND
  A kind of handwriting in which the downward slope of the letters is from left to right.
• TURNBROACH
  A turnspit. " One that was her turnbroach." Beau. & Fl.
• RE-TURN
  To turn again.
• NOCTURNAL
  1. Of, pertaining to, done or occuring in, the night; as, nocturnal darkness, cries, expedition, etc.; -- opposed to Ant: diurnal. Dryden. 2. Having a habit of seeking food or moving about at night; as, nocturnal birds and insects.
• SATURNISM
  Plumbum. Quain.
• DIUTURNAL
  Of long continuance; lasting. Milton.
• OVERTURN
  1. To turn or throw from a basis, foundation, or position; to overset; as, to overturn a carriage or a building. 2. To subvert; to destroy; to overthrow. 3. To overpower; to conquer. Milton. Syn. -- To demolish; overthrow. See Demolish.
• LECTURN
  A choir desk, or reading desk, in some churches, from which the lections, or Scripture lessons, are chanted or read; hence, a reading desk. . Fairholt.
• RETURNLESS
  Admitting no return. Chapman.
• NOTTURNO
  See NOCTURNE
• SEA TURN
  A breeze, gale, or mist from the sea. Ham. Nav. Encyc.