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right hand
Also right-hand, righthand. Forms: see right a. and hand n.
[f. right a. 18. Cf. Fris. rjuchterhán, (M)Du. rechter hand, G. rechte hand.]
1. a. That hand which is normally the stronger of the two. (Opposed to left hand.)
c1000Nicodemus xxi, Se Hælend..be ðære ryht handa me ᵹenam. c1200Ormin 8181 And himm wass sett inn hiss rihht hannd An dere kineȝerrde. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 11 His riȝt hond he liet of-smite. a1300Cursor M. 1618 Be his right hand he suar his ath. 1340–70Alisaunder 1174 He raught forthe his right hand & his rigge frotus. a1400–50Alexander 784* With hys right hande hym rodely [he] strakez. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 150 He..hit him vnder the eir with his richt hand. 1535Coverdale Tobit vii. 13 So he toke the righthande of his daughter, and gaue her in to the right hande of Tobias. c1585R. Browne Answ. Cartwright 3 This he shoulde houlde in his right hande. 1635–56Cowley Davideis i. 2 That right hand which held the Crook before. 1670C. Gataker in Gataker's Antid. Errour To Rdr. B ij b, Whom I desire to receive with the right hand, that which is offered with the right hand. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4784/1 On Condition that he should give the Right Hand to the Marquis de Prié in his own House. 1781Cowper Anti-Thelyphth. 169 To horse! he cried, or by this good right hand..I smite you. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xix, She let her right hand fall on his shoulder. 1879Browning Halbert & Hob 4 Right-hand with left-hand linked,—He faced his son submissive.
attrib.1675Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 51, I desire nothing more..than that God would pull out right-eye sins, and cut off right-hand sins. 1680Roscommon Poems (1780) 78 Give my exalted soul a place Among thy chosen right⁓hand race. 1762Sterne Tr. Shandy v. xxix, He set his right-hand thumb upon the bow of the saddle. 1805Southey Madoc in W. xi, The Prince..gave to Caradoc the right-hand pledge. 1884Harper's Mag. Dec. 114/2 She started from home with two right-hand gloves.
b. transf. as a symbol of friendship or alliance. (Rendering L. dextræ.)
1591Savile Tacitus, Hist. i. liv. 31 The Lingones..had sent giftes to the Legions, Right-hands in token of mutual loue. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. ii. xiv. (1622) 53 Calling to mind their friendship..with the Romans, and desiring that they might renew right hands.
c. transf. A person of usefulness or importance; an efficient or indispensable helper or aid.
c1528–37Ld. J. Butler in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 48 O Connor..who hath maried the erle of Kildare's doghter, is his right hand. 1581G. Elliot (title), A very true Report of the apprehension..of that arch-Papist Edmund Campion, the Pope his right hand. 1615J. Stephens Satyr. Ess. 329 A Lawyers simple Clarke Is his Masters right hand, if hee bee not left-handed. 1665Pepys Diary 22 July, It is strange to see how poor..Backewell is like to be put to it in his absence, Mr. Shaw, his right hand, being ill. 1713Steele Guard. No. 5 ⁋4 For Mrs. Jane is the Right-hand of her Mother. 1765Welldon (title), The Smith's Right Hand, or a Complete Guide to the Various Branches of all sorts of Iron Work. 1846Grote Greece (1869) I. 57 [Hêphaestos] is indispensable as the right-hand and instrument of the gods. 1847Tennyson Princess iii. 21 Lady Psyche was the right hand now, And she the left, or not, or seldom used.
2. a. The right side. b. The direction towards the right. = right n.1 17 a.
c1205Lay. 14734 Heo iseȝen an heore riht hond a swiþe fæier æit-lond. a1240Creed in O.E. Hom. I. 217 Þer he sit o godes rithond feder al-mihti. a1300Cursor M. 6325 He loked als on his righthand. a1340Hampole Psalter cxli. 5, I byheld til þe righthand. c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1769 The iiide on the ryght hande here hit ys to the tolde. 1470–85Malory Arthur i. xv. 56 Syr Arthur..stered his hors here & there on the right hand & on the lyft hand. a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 26 He left the right way toward Pomfret,..and toke the way on the right hand. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 42 Turne vpon your right hand at the next turning. 1661Pepys Diary 23 Apr., My wife [was] in one little one, on the right hand. 1687T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 82 Pluto. Two martyrs, say'st thou? Where the devil are they? Pope. On my right-hand. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton (1907) 99 They might continue as far to the right hand, and to the left as far. 1837G. Phillips Syriac Gram. 1 The Syrians in common with many other Eastern nations, read from the right-hand to the left. 1863M. Howitt tr. F. Bremer's Greece I. 2 On the right hand we discern Mount Athos.
attrib.1592Kyd Sp. Trag. i. i, Three waies there were: that on the right hand side Was ready way unto the fore⁓said fields. a1600Flodden F. v. (1664) 46 In Right-hand wing did warlike wend. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 633 Som times He scours the right hand coast. 1757W. Wilkie Epigoniad ii. 33 [It] struck the right-hand courser to the ground. 1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornw., etc. x. 305 What the miner terms a ‘right hand heave’. 1887Rider Haggard Allan Quatermain ii, I made out several dark heads gliding away towards the right-hand bank.
†c. The position of honour. to take the right hand of, to take or assume precedence of. Obs.
1652Seas. Exp. 9 If..the time..be made Umpier of Precedency, Geneva must take the right hand of You. 1682News fr. France 2 It is true, the Precedence was then granted to the Bishops of Rome,..and the Empire carrying its name from Rome, no wonder if the Bishop..had the Right-hand still reserved to him. 1704N. N. tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. I. 188 The Scotch Nobility..said 'twas a very hard Case, that a poor Scholar..should afterwards by Virtue of a Bishoprick.. not only assume as good a Title as his Master, but even pretend, upon some Occasions, to take the Right-hand of him.
d. Of errors: on the right hand, on the right side, in the right direction. Also attrib. ? Obs.
1693Dryden Persius vi. (1697) 490 One Error, tho' on the right hand, yet a great one, is, That they are no Helps to a Virtuous Life. 1785Wesley Wks. (1872) XIII. 95 Miss Cooke leans to the right-hand error—It is safer to think too little than too much of yourself.
3. right-hand man:
†a. A soldier holding a position of responsibility or command on the right of a troop of horse. Obs.
b. = sense 1 c.
a.1665Pepys Diary 4 Dec., Not only..being admitted into the Duke of Albemarle's guards..but also..put as a right⁓hand man, and other marks of special respect. 1710Steele & Addison Tatler No. 253 ⁋1 Mr. Alexander Truncheon, who is their Right-Hand Man in the Troop [of horse guards]. 1721Lond. Gaz. No. 5925/3 He..was lately a Right Hand Man in the 4th Troop of Horse-Guards.
b.a1802Earl Richard xxiii. in Scott Border Minst. (1869) 362 O wha has slain my right-hand man, That held my hawk and hound? 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. vi, I am in want of a secretary..: he shall be my right-hand man. 1841Marryat Poacher xxii, Little Peter was her right-hand man. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 145 He will go with me as stockman and right-hand man generally.
4. right-hand drive, a steering system in a motor vehicle in which the steering wheel and other controls are fitted on the right side instead of on the left; also attrib.; so right-hand driving vbl. n.; right-hand(-laid) rope: (see quot. 1867); right-hand screw, one with the thread turning to the right; right-hand lock (see quot. 1875).
1841Dana Seaman's Man. 8 Parcel the score of the dead⁓eye, and heave the shroud taut round it, turning in with the sun, if right-hand-laid rope. Ibid. 34 Right-hand rope must be coiled with the sun. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 89 A metal fuze with a right-hand screw. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Right-Hand Rope, that which is laid up and twisted with the sun, that is to the right hand. 1875Knight Mech. Dict. 1340/2 The right-hand and left-hand locks are for doors to swing to the right or to the left. 1912Horseless Age 21 Feb. 375/2 In right hand drive cars it [sc. the steering column] is located directly in front of the right hand front passenger. 1936M. Kennedy Together & Apart iii. 178 ‘But don't you,’ she asked, ‘find the right-hand driving rather confusing?’ ‘I don't mind it. But in Sweden it's left-hand.’ 1940R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely viii. 55 The car had a right-hand drive. 1956[see left hand 3]. 1965Listener 10 June 878/2 The two latest French saloons, the Renault 16 and the Peugeot 204, did not appear at Silverstone last Wednesday because right-hand drive versions are not yet available. 1969J. Leasor They don't make them like that any More vi. 185, I thought that all Mercedes exported to England before the war had right-hand drive? 1974A. Price Other Paths to Glory ii. viii. 208 Got ‘GB’ in the back..the Jag had—that's English. An' right-hand drive—that's English too. |