ham it up
To overact or exaggerate for comedic effect
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ham sandwich
A vulva.
hamlet
A high constable. Cant.
hammer and nail
a perfect solution for a problem
hammer and sickle
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
Hammer and Sickle
Since 1923, the em- blems of the U.S.S.R., symbolic of productive work in the factory and on the land.
hammer and tongs
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
hammer away
to work or try hard at something over a long period
hammer home
to emphasize or repeat something to make it very clear
Hamnet and Judith
Hamnet died at the age of 11 ; Judith married Thomas Quiney, had three sons, all of whom died young acid unmarried, and died in 1662. Susanna married John Hall and died in 1649, leaving only one child, Elizabeth, the last descendant of the dramatist. She married twice, but had no children; and died as Lady Bernard, wife of Sir John Bernard, of Abmgton Manor, North- ampton, in 1670.
Hampstead Heath
teeth.
Hampton Court Conference
A conference held at Hampton Court in January, 1604, to settle the disputes between the Church party and the
hamster wheel
A situation where someone is working hard but getting nowhere
hamstered
Drunk.
hand
A sailor. We lost a hand; we lost a sailor. Bear a hand; make haste. Hand to fist; opposite: the same as tete-a-tete, or cheek by joul.
hand
A workman or helper, a person. "A cool HAND," explained by Sir Thomas Overbury to be "one who accounts bashfulness the wickedest thing in the world, and therefore studies impudence."
hand and blister
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
hand and foot
completely or utterly
hand and pocket shop
An eating house, where ready money is paid for what is called for.
hand basket portion
A woman whose husband receives frequent presents from her father, or family, is said to have a hand-basket portion.
hand down
pass something to a younger generation
hand gallop
A slow and easy gallop, in which the horse is kept well in hand.
hand in glove
Sworn friends; on most intimate terms; close companions, like glove and hand.
hand in one's dinner pail
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
hand it to someone
give someone credit or recognition
hand off
To transfer responsibility or a task to someone else
hand over
To give or surrender something to someone
hand over fist
To gain or earn something very quickly and in large amounts
hand over hand
to move carefully and slowly
hand over hand
To go or to come up hand over hand, is to travel with great rapidity, as climbing a rope or a ladder, or as one vessel overtakes another. Sailors in hauling a rope put one hand over the other alternately as fast as they can. In French, Main sur main.
hand over head
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
hand someone their cards
to dismiss or fire someone
hand someone their hat
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
hand someone their head
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
hand to God
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
hand waving
Dismissing or ignoring something without proper consideration
hand-me-downs
Second-hand clothes. See REACH-ME-DOWNS.
hand-saw
Or CHIVE FENCER, a man who sells razors and knives in the streets.
handbags at dawn
a fierce and intense argument or confrontation
handbags at ten paces
A challenge or confrontation between two people, often in a dramatic or ritualistic manner
hander
A second, or assistant. At some schools blows on the hand administered with a cane are so called.
handicap
An arrangement by which, in any description of sport, every competitor in a race is supposed to have a chance of winning equal to the chances of his opponents. HANDICAPPING, in horse-racing signifies the adjudgment of various weights to horses differing in age, power, and speed, so as to place them as much as possible on an equality. At other sports this equalization is managed by means of starts.
handle
To know how to handle one's fists; to be skilful in the art of boxing. The cove flashes a rare handle to his physog; the fellow has a large nose.
handle
A nose; the title appended to a person’s name; also a term in boxing, "to HANDLE one’s fists," to use them against an adversary.
handle oneself
to behave or manage oneself in a situation
handle with kid gloves
Treat someone or something with great care and delicacy
handlebar
Xanax.
handling
A method of concealing certain cards in the palm of the hand, or in fashionable long wristbands; one of the many modes of cheating practised by sharpers.
hands down
without a doubt or competition
hands up
to surrender or admit defeat
handseller
Or CHEAP JACK, a street or open-air seller, a man who carries goods to his customers, instead of waiting for his customers to visit him.
handsome
He is a handsome-bodied man in the face; a jeering commendation of an ugly fellow. Handsome is that handsome does: a proverb frequently cited by ugly women.
handsome is as handsome does
A person's character is more important than their appearance
Handsome is that handsome does. (1670) (Strauss, 1994 p. 879)
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
handsome reward
This, in advertisements, means a horse-whipping.
handwriting on the wall
A clear sign of impending doom or disaster
Handwriting on the Wall
An announcement of some coming calamity, or the imminent fulfilment of some doom. The allusion is to the handwriting on Belshazzar's palace wall announcing the loss of his kingdom (Dan. v).
hang a leg
to sit with one leg crossed over the other
hang a Louie
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
hang a Ralph
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
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