A fine large hand in writing. a. orig. One of the larger and more formal hands in which the text of a book was often written, as distinct from the smaller or more cursive hand appropriate to the gloss, etc. See also quot. 1688. b. Now usually applied to a school-hand written in lines about half an inch wide.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 224. He had taken vp … an instrumente written in greate letters of texte-hande.
1599. [see TEXT v.1].
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 414/2. These are the form of the Letters … used by the Germans; and are termed the Text Hand Letters.
1796. Pegge, Anonym. (1809), 475. It is called text-hand and text-letter because the text was ever wrote in a large hand and the comment in a small. As text-hand is both square and round, it means little more than a large hand of each sort.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxxi. You seem wondrous slow in reading text hand.
