See also: closehanded

English edit

Etymology edit

close +‎ handed

Adjective edit

close-handed (comparative more close-handed, superlative most close-handed)

  1. Alternative form of closehanded
    • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. [], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, [], →OCLC:
      they were outcasts, paupers, unfriended beings, to whom the most scanty pittance was a matter of favour, and who were treated merely as children of peasants, yet poorer than the poorest, who, dying, had left them, a thankless bequest, to the close-handed charity of the land.
    • 1847, Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights:
      Yes, yes, he's rich enough to live in a finer house than this: but he's very near—close-handed;
    • 2003, David Daniel, White Rabbit: A Mystery, →ISBN:
      Close-handed with his own information, he suspected others of holding out, too.
    • 2015, Charles Spurgeon, Vol. 33 Sermons 1938-2000:
      In the last place. I am to come to close-handed fighting.