handle
Definitions
General English
General Science
- noun a device for taking in, or being operated by, the hand
- verb to control or operate something by hand
Agriculture
- noun a term used to describe the texture or feel of wool
Aviation
- verb to move or operate by hand
Banking
- noun the whole number of a share price quoted
Cars & Driving
- verb to react under any given circumstances but especially referring to cornering, roadholding and manoeuvring
Commerce
- verb to sell or to trade in a type of product
Computing
- noun number used to identify an active file within the program that is accessing the file
- noun a small square displayed that can be dragged to change the shape of a window or graphical object
Electronics
- In computers, one of several small squares surrounding a graphic, and which serves to size it.
- A temporary designation which identifies a given memory block, file, object, or the like.
Information & Library Science
- noun a computer user’s nickname or screen name
- noun a small square that is displayed on the edge of a frame, object or image
- verb to deal with or accept responsibility for a situation or people
Military
- noun a part of an object, which enables it to be carried by hand
Slang
- noun a name, nickname, alias or title. The first sense of the word was that of title (an appendage to one’s name) in the early 19th century.
Travel
- verb to sell or to trade in a sort of service or product
Origin & History of “handle”
Etymologically, a handle is nothing more or less than ‘something to be held in the hand’. Likewise the verb handle, together with Germanic relatives like German handeln and Swedish handla, began life as ‘hold, touch, feel with the hands’ (the German and Swedish verbs have since lost this original literal meaning, and now have only the metaphorical senses ‘deal with’, ‘trade’, etc).
