Handfuls

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small number of items that can be comfortably held in one's palm
2. A limited quantity that can be grasped or contained by a single hand
3. A quantity of objects or substance that fits into the palm of a hand

Etymology: "Handfuls" is simply the plural of "handful," and the noun itself is about as transparent as English compounds get. It descends from Old English "handfull," built from "hand" and "full," so the word has always meant what it still means: as much as a hand can hold. The sense of "full" here is closer to "fullness" or "plenty" than to the adjective we use today, so a handful is literally a hand's fill. Its roots reach back to Proto-Germanic, where the same pairing of "hand" and "full" was already in use, and cousins of the word appear across the Germanic languages: Dutch "handvol," German "Handvoll," Swedish "handfull," and Icelandic "handfylli." The word's structure has also been treated as "hand" plus the suffix "-ful," so the same ending in words like "cupful" or "spoonful" follows the same logic.

Synonyms: grasp, clutch

Antonyms: multitude