hands

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of hand.

   She warmed her hands over the small fire.

   The surgeon scrubbed both hands carefully before the operation.

   Note

   Every sense of the noun forms its plural the same regular way, so the form reaches well past the body. It covers the hour and minute hands of a clock, the cards a player holds or the rounds of a game, even bundles of tobacco leaves tied together. Context does the sorting: "we played three hands" counts rounds, not palms. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, as in "she hands him the file."

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of hand.

   The waiter hands each guest a menu before taking the order.

   She hands her assistant the file and asks for a summary.

   Note

   A verb form for a singular subject such as she, he or the waiter, and one that always needs an object. In its giving sense it often takes two objects, the receiver and the thing passed: he hands each guest a menu. It can also mean leading someone by the hand, and on a ship a sailor hands a sail when furling it. Avoid "manages" and "seizes" as meanings, because both are obsolete.

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