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Clumsy; awkward; unlucky; insincere; sinister; malicious; as, a left-handed compliment. The commendations of this people are not always left-handed and detractive. Landor.

The state or quality of being left-handed; awkwardness. An awkward address, ungraceful attitudes and actions, and a certain left-handiness (if I may use the expression) proclaim low education. Chesterfield.

Left-handed on both sides; clumsy; -- opposed to ambidexter. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

In an unlucky (left-handed) or perverse manner. [Obs.] Holland.

Selected from a number; picked out; choice. Seven hundred chosen men left-handed. Judg. xx. 16.

Similar, but not superposable, i. e., related to each other as a right-handed to a left-handed glove; -- said of certain hemihedral crystals.

Pertaining to, in the manner of, or designating, a kind of marriage, called also left-handed marriage, between a man of superior rank and a woman of inferior, in which it is stipulated that neither the latter nor her children shall enjoy the rank or inherit the possessions of her husband. Brande & C. -- Mor`ga*nat"ic*…

r in other respects, differ in this, viz., that they do or do not produce right-handed or left-handed circular polarization of light. -- Optically positive, Optically negative. See under Refraction.

ffirmative quantity, or one affected by the sign plus [+]. -- Positive rotation (Mech.), left-handed rotation. -- Positive sign (Math.), the sign [+] denoting plus, or more, or addition.

fitting), a coupling the opposite ends of which are tapped for a right-handed screw and a left-handed screw, respectivelly. -- Right angle. (a) The angle formed by one line meeting another perpendicularly, as the angles ABD, DBC. (b) (Spherics) A spherical angle included between the axes of two great circles whose pla…

Left-handed; hence, unlucky. [Obs.] Lovelace.

nd. Many, in their infancy, are sinistrously disposed, and divers continue all their life left-handed. Sir T. Browne.