Handles

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. To physically grasp or touch something firmly with the hands ; to take charge of or deal with a particular responsibility or problem ; informal term for a person's nickname or alias used especially online
2. To securely hold an object using the hands ; to organize, direct, or cope with a duty or issue ; a familiar or chosen name people use to identify someone in certain contexts
3. Refers to the act of gripping an item with one's hands ; involves overseeing or controlling an activity or situation ; denotes a pseudonym or distinctive name adopted by an individual

Etymology: The verb "handle" comes from Old English "handlian," meaning "to feel, touch, deal with, or discuss," and it is built from "hand" plus a suffix, "-le," that made it a frequentative, something done repeatedly or in a light, fiddling way. The Old English verb is related to the modern Dutch "handelen" and German "handeln," which mean "to trade" or "to act," so the sense of managing or dealing with something is older than the sense of physically holding it. The noun has a separate line of descent. Old English "handle" was simply a thing to be grasped, and the word's cognate German "Hantel" now means "dumbbell," a reminder that the core idea is something a hand closes around. The sense of a handle as a name, a nickname adopted for a purpose, arose from the same logic: a name is something by which a person is taken hold of in conversation.

Synonyms: grips, holds, controllers, manipulators, levers

Antonyms: releases, drops, lets go, discards, abandon