ambidexter

English

Alternative forms

• ambodexter (obsolete form)

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin ambidexter, from Latin ambi- + dexter.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ambɪˈdɛkstə/

Noun

ambidexter (plural ambidexters)

1. Someone who is ambidextrous.
2. (archaic) A lawyer who takes fees from both plaintiff and defendant.
   • 1888–1891, Herman Melville, “(please specify |chapter=I to XXVI)”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC:

     But the thing which in eminent instances signalizes so exceptional a nature is this: though the man's even temper and discreet bearing would seem to intimate a mind peculiarly subject to the law of reason, not the less in his heart he would seem to riot in complete exemption from that law, having apparently little to do with reason further than to employ it as an ambidexter implement for effecting the irrational.

3. (by extension) Someone who is two-faced; a double-dealer, such as a cheat or a crook.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , New York Review of Books, 2001, p.65:

     One takes upon him temperence, holiness […], whenas indeed he, and he, and he, and the rest are hypocrites, ambidexters, outsides, so many turning pictures, a lion on one side, a lamb on the other.

Adjective

ambidexter (not comparable)

1. Ambidextrous.
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     He then changed his battery, and being ambidexter, raised such a clatter upon the turnkey’s blind side, that this hero, believing him left-handed, converted his attention that way, and opposed the unenlightened side of his face to the right hand of Pipes […]

Derived terms

• ambidexterity

 

See also

• ambidextrous

References

• [Francis] Grose [et al.] (1811) “Ambidexter”, in Lexicon Balatronicum. A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. […], London: […] C. Chappell, […], →OCLC.

Dutch

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin ambidexter. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɑm.biˈdɛk.stər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: am‧bi‧dex‧ter

Adjective

ambidexter (used only predicatively, comparative meer ambidexter, superlative meest ambidexter)

1. ambidexter