Forms: (See LEFT a. and HAND.)
1. (see LEFT a. 1.)
c. 1205. Lay., 28047. Ich igrap mi sweord … mid mire leoft honde.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28968. Þat þi left hand wijt noght for roos, þe almus þat þi right hand doos.
1340. Ayenb., 196. Huanne þou dest elmesse ne wyte naȝt þi left hand huet deþ þi riȝt hand.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 229. [He] halt his bridel in his lift hand.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun, 3847. Vndere myne heved softly mot he lay his left hande.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxx. (1482), 245. Charlys leyde … his lift hond on the missale.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxviii. (1887), 169. To vse the left hand, as well as the right.
1611. Bible, Matt. vi. 3. But when thou doost almes, let not thy left hand know, what thy right doeth.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Marriage, In Germany, they have a kind of marriage called morganatic, wherein a man of quality contracting with a woman of inferior rank, he gives her the left hand in lieu of the right.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Race, Wks. (Bohn), II. 29. The French say that the English women have two left hands.
1879. Browning, Halbert & Hob, 42. Right-hand with left-hand linked,—He faced his son submissive.
2. In phrases. On, to the left hand (of): on the left side (of), in the direction of the left side; also fig. To take the left hand (of): to place oneself on the left side (of). † To give (a person or thing) the left hand of friendship: to deal unfriendly with. To marry with the left hand, to contract a morganatic marriage with; hence a wife of the left hand (see quot. 1727–41 in 1); (a daughter) by the left hand, one born of such a marriage (in quot. used for ‘illegitimate’).
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 37. Þe get … an ure louerd ihesu cristes lift hond.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6323. On his left hand loked he. Ibid. (a. 1300), 23042 (Edin.). Þe wik in tuin on his lef hand.
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, III. xl. 110. Þou art impugned on þe riȝt honde & on þe lifte honde.
c. 1483. Caxton, Dialogues, ix. 49. A le main senestre, on the lyfte honde.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), III. iii. 145. Unto theym the whiche shall be on the lyfte hande.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 21. And neyther declyneth on the ryght hande,… ne on ye lefte hande.
c. 1585. R. Browne, Answ. Cartwright, 1. Some being enemies will give it their left hande of friendshippe.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 820. On the right and left hand of Dariene are found twenty Rivers, which yeelde Gold.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., IV. 203. The Figures to the left hand signifie Leagues in this Journal, or Miles.
c. 1720. Mist’s Weekly Jrnl. (1722), I. 252. When once a Man has been any Time on the left Hand of Gain, it must be [etc.].
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), I. 237. On the left-hand … is the mountain of Rochemelon.
1762. Goldsm., Cit. W., lxxii. He would take the left hand at feasts.
1778. C. Jones, Hoyle’s Games Impr., 75. Place of every Suit in your Hand the worst of it to the Left-hand.
1788. Clara Reeve, Exiles, II. 196. She is only my wife of the left hand.
1818. J. W. Croker, Jrnl., 7 Dec., in C. Papers (1884), I. iv. 122. The Prince certainly married Mrs. Fitzherbert with the left hand.
1883. Ld. R. Gower, My Remin., II. xxx. 337. One of the Grand Monarque’s daughters by the left hand married a Duc de Chevreuse.
3. attrib. (usually hyphened left-hand) passing into adj., chiefly signifying ‘placed or situated on the left side,’ or ‘taking the direction towards the left side,’ occas. also ‘ill-omened,’ ‘sinister,’ ‘underhand,’ ‘inferior.’ Also in special collocations: left-hand blow, one delivered with the left hand; left-hand man, † (a) a left-handed man; (b) one who has his place at one’s left; left-hand marriage = marriage with the left hand (see 2); so left-hand wife, queen; left-hand rope, rope laid up and twisted ‘against the sun’; † left-hand tongue, a language written from right to left, as Hebrew or Arabic.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 293/2. Left hande man [MSS. K and S a. 1485) left handid man], mancinus.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun, 2771. Like to the lefthande there.
1586. W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 74. Oft did a left hand crow foretell these thinges in her hull tree [trans. Virg. Ecl. i. 18 sinistra … cornix].
1598. Rowlands, in Farr, S. P. Eliz. (1845), II. 352. A little from that place Vpon the left-hand side.
a. 1632. Sir J. Whitelocke, Liber Famelicus (Camden), 13. An obscure … man … but expert in all the lefthand tongs, as hebrew [etc.].
1635. Quarles, Embl., IV. iv. 197. If left-hand Fortune give thee left-hand chances, Be wisely patient.
1650. Baxter, Saints’ R., III. vi. § 26 (1651), 127. God … hath given them the very cream and quintessence of his blessings, when the rest of the world are … put off with common, and temporal, and left-hand-Mercies.
1664. Flodden F., V. 46. Then next the Left-hand wing did wield Sir M. C. old.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., IV. 202. Put down the Title of the Voyage, over the left-hand Page.
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, xix. (1697), 429. Most Men inclining to the left-hand way, are thereby precipitated into all Vncleanness.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., I. 353. Then by a left-hand marriage [he] weds the dame.
1711. S. Sewall, Diary, 9 Feb. (1879), II. 300. His place at the Council Board … will hardly be filled up. I have lost a good Left-hand man.
17[?]. Burns, Epitaph Holy Willie, i. His saul has taen some other way, I fear the left-hand road.
1818. J. W. Croker, Jrnl., 7 Dec., in C. Papers (1884), I. iv. 123. The lady … affected … scruples, which the left-hand marriage … silenced.
1828. J. H. Moore, Pract. Navig. (ed. 20), 173. Find … the given latitude in the left-hand column.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xvi. 117. For a long time we kept at the left-hand side of the glacier.
1871. R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, xii. 2. Left-hand practices o’er the merry wine-cup.
1872. Lever, Ld. Kilgobbin, lxvii. Regrets that beset us for not having taken the left-hand road in life instead of the right.
1894. Mrs. F. Elliot, Roman Gossip, iv. 127. The beautiful villa … where lived his left-hand queen.
