And that old hag [Silenus] that with a staff his staggering limbs doth stay,
Scarce able on his ass to sit for reeling every way.
Golding, Ovid’s Metamorphosis, b. iv.
Curst be thy throte and soule. Raven,
Schriech-owle, hag [addressed to a man].
Chapman, Byron’s Conspiracies, act iii.
| Handsome, | } |
| Handsomeness. |
Now referred exclusively to comeliness, either literal or figurative. It is of course closely connected with ‘handy,’ indeed differs from it only in termination, and in all early uses means having prompt and dexterous use of the hands, and then generally able, adroit. In Cotgrave’s Dictionary, ‘habile,’ ‘adroit,’ ‘maniable,’ take precedence of ‘beau,’ ‘belle,’ as its French equivalents. See ‘Unhandsome.’
Few of them [the Germans] use swords or great lances; but carry javelins with a narrow and short iron, but so sharp and handsome, that, as occasion serveth, with the same weapon they can fight both at hand and afar off.—Greenwey, Tacitus, vol. i. p. 259.
A light footman’s shield he takes unto him, and a Spanish blade by his side, more handsome to fight short and close [ad propiorem habili pugnam].—Holland, Livy, p. 255.