Meanings
- not comparablerareSynonym of handy.
George W. Greene's " Short History of Rhode Island" (1877) is a handly manual but nothing more.
1921, Peter George Mode, Source book and bibliographical guide for American church history2 more examples
[…] Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris published a handly manual in off-set intitled Bibliography — International Migration of Manpower (1).
1971, World justice: Volume 12The 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.
1859, The Spectator, volume 32Synonyms: handy
- not comparableobsoleteOf or pertaining to the hand; manual.
The word handly has no asterisk because it is in fact recorded several times in Middle English, and with precisely the meaning 'manual'.
[2009, Philip Durkin, The Oxford guide to etymology
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveSynonym of handy.
Origin
- Middle Englishhandly
- Englishhandly
From Middle English handly, handliche; equivalent to hand + -ly. Compare German handlich (“handy, manageable”), Swedish handlig (“handy”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
handly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/handly
“handly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/handly. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “handly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/handly.
Source: handly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.