Hypertext Webster Gateway: "handsomest"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Handsome \Hand"some\ (?; 277), a. [Compar. {Handsomer}; superl.
{Handsomest}.] [Hand + -some. It at first meant, dexterous;
cf. D. handzaam dexterous, ready, limber, manageable, and E.
handy.]
1. Dexterous; skillful; handy; ready; convenient; -- applied
to things as persons. [Obs.]

That they [engines of war] be both easy to be
carried and handsome to be moved and turned about.
--Robynson
(Utopia).

For a thief it is so handsome as it may seem it was
first invented for him. --Spenser.

2. Agreeable to the eye or to correct taste; having a
pleasing appearance or expression; attractive; having
symmetry and dignity; comely; -- expressing more than
pretty, and less than beautiful; as, a handsome man or
woman; a handsome garment, house, tree, horse.


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