subs. (colloquial).—A servant or workman doing odd jobs.

1

  1847.  DE QUINCEY, The Spanish Military Nun, Wks. (1890), xiii., 165. She was a HANDY GIRL. She could turn her hand to anything.

2

  1872.  Times, 27 Aug. ‘Autumn Manœuvres.’ The result is he cannot be called a HANDY-MAN.

3

  1889.  Pall Mall Gazette, 8 Nov., p. 2, c. 1. Again did Mr. Sambourne’s HANDY-MAN appear, this time clad in the real robes of the Lord Mayor.

4

  1892.  HUME NISBET, The Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 55. He was a HANDY-MAN.

5