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A hand's breadth; four inches. [Obs.] Knap the tongs together about a handful from the bottom. Bacon.

inst which the type is arranged in a composing stick, or by the aid of which stickfuls or handfuls or type are lifted; -- called also setting rule. -- Composing stick (Print.), an instrument usually of metal, which the compositor holds in his left hand, and in which he arranges the type in words and lines. It has one…

well. When they [stems of asphodel] be dried, they ought to be made up into knitchets, or handfuls. Holland.

A handful. [R.] B. Jonson.

A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Wright.

A handful of gleaned grain. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

lane shorter than a jointer, used for fitting a short joint. Moxon. -- Strike of flax, a handful that may be hackled at once. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Chaucer. -- Strike of sugar. (Sugar Making) (a) The act of emptying the teache, or last boiler, in which the cane juice is exposed to heat, into the coolers. (b) The quant…

Out of that or this. He shall take thereout his handful of the flour. Lev. ii. 2.

A handful of straw bound together at one end, and used for thatching. [Scot.] Jamieson. Tippet grebe (Zoöl.), the great crested grebe, or one of several similar species. -- Tippet grouse (Zoöl.), the ruffed grouse. -- To turn tippet, to change. [Obs.] B. Jonson.