handly

English

Etymology

From Middle English handly, handliche; equivalent to hand +‎ -ly. Compare German handlich (“handy, manageable”), Swedish handlig (“handy”).

Adjective

handly (not comparable)

1. (rare) Synonym of handy
   • 1921, Peter George Mode, Source book and bibliographical guide for American church history:

     George W. Greene's " Short History of Rhode Island" (1877) is a handly manual but nothing more.

   • 1971, World justice: Volume 12:

     […] Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris published a handly manual in off-set intitled Bibliography — International Migration of Manpower (1).

   • 1859, The Spectator, volume 32:

     The Practical Guide for Italy, comprising the North and Central portions of the Peninsula has just been issued, and fully sustains the established character of the series. It is accompanied with a handly little map illustrative of the war.

2. (obsolete) Of or pertaining to the hand; manual.
   • [2009, Philip Durkin, The Oxford guide to etymology:

     The word handly has no asterisk because it is in fact recorded several times in Middle English, and with precisely the meaning 'manual'.]

Anagrams

• Hyland