handtame
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
See also: hand-tame
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English handtame, from Old English handtam (“tame enough to be handled”), from Proto-West Germanic *handutam, equivalent to hand + tame. Cognate with Dutch handtam (“handtame”), German Low German handtamm (“handtame”), German handzahm (“handtame”).
Adjective
[edit]handtame (comparative more handtame, superlative most handtame)
- Tame and accustomed to being held in the hand; (by extension) mild; meek; humble; docile
- 2003, From The Heart of a Bird - Page 50:
- I badly wanted a little more time to work on training them, but simply couldn't find it — so while they grew up friendly and confident, you couldn't exactly called them handtame.
- 2011, David Tipling, The Bird Photography Field Guide:
- This is a really popular image with British photographers when photographing Atlantic puffins, which can be hand-tame — indeed, I have had puffins playfully tugging at my laces while sitting on a cliff top!
- 2015, Cherry Wilder, A Princess of the Chameln:
- Tamir was all her joy. She had him hand-tame, spoiled him most tenderly.
- 2003, From The Heart of a Bird - Page 50:
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]tame and accustomed to being held in the hand; mild; meek; humble; docile
|
Verb
[edit]handtame (third-person singular simple present handtames, present participle handtaming, simple past and past participle handtamed)
- To cause (someone or something) to become accustomed to being handled
- 1964, Senior Citizen, volume 10, page 40:
- Even children can handtame wild birds, if they follow Al Martin's simple directions.
- 2003, Brats in Feathers, Keeping Canaries - Page 49:
- So now that you've decided to handtame your canary, just where do you start?
Translations
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English compound terms
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs