horny-handed

comparative more horny-handed · superlative most horny-handed · alternative hornyhanded

1. Having hands that are horny (calloused) and tough from manual labour; hardhanded.

   He was so fond of drink, that he would shamelessly accept the contemptuous hospitality of hornyhanded workmen.

   1983, Emile Guillaumin, chapter XLVII, in Margaret Crosland, transl., edited by Eugen Weber, The Life of a Simple Man, Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, →ISBN, page 160

   3 more examples

   "My patience must be inexhaustible. I am much tempted to kick you downstairs, Mr. Railing." / "You forget that I'm a working-man and horny-handed, so it's safer not to try."

   1906, W[illiam] S[omerset] Maugham, chapter XVI, in The Bishop’s Apron: A Study in the Origins of a Great Family, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC; republished as The Bishop’s Apron (EBook #47523), United States: Project Gutenberg, 28 June 2020

   The pitchfork remains one of the hand tools that no invention can ever wholly replace, and I suppose that unborn generations of men will grow hornyhanded and weary in its use.

   1953, Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., “The Farm Implements of the Homespun Age”, in The Golden Age of Homespun, Ithaca, N.Y.; London: Fall Creek Books, Cornell University Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 237

   The dot punch is used to make a more permanent mark than a pencilled or scratched line; […] The mark is made with a tap from a light hammer, although I have known horny[-]handed markers who did it with simple hand pressure.

   1985, Laurie Penman, “Tools and Equipment”, in The Clock Repairer’s Handbook, Newton Abbot, Devon; London: David & Charles; New York, N.Y.: Arco Publishing, →ISBN, page 157, column 2