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handyman

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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A handyman at work.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From handy +‎ -man.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈhændimæn/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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handyman (plural handymen)

  1. (informal) A person who does small tasks and odd jobs, especially building repairs and the like.
    Synonym: odd-job man
    I complained that the heat was not working, and the landlord sent the handyman to fix it.
    • 1983, Stan Rogers, “Strings and Dory Plug”, in For the Family:
      There was one thing she wanted; she said to hubby dear, / "The time would pass more quickly if I had a rocking chair." / [...] As Strings is such a handyman, by night the job was done / He took that thing upstairs and said, "Now try this out for fun."

See also

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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handyman (third-person singular simple present handymans, present participle handymanning, simple past and past participle handymanned)

  1. (informal, intransitive) To work as a handyman; to do odd jobs.
    • 2014, Peter Wells, Boy Overboard:
      Instead I walk, uncertainly across the concrete backyard my father and his friends handymanned into existence so proudly, so that none of us would ever have to play in dirt, in muck, in mud again.
    • 2018, Tayari Jones, An American Marriage, page 5:
      My daddy worked too hard at Buck's Sporting Goods by day plus handymanning in the evenings, and my mother spent too many hours fixing trays at the meat-and-three for me to act like we had neither pot nor window. Let the record show that we had both.
    • 2020, Wendelin Van Draanen, Flipped:
      They handymanned all week. And every night Grandad would come in with rosy cheeks and a huge appetite and compliment my mom on what a great cook she was.

Further reading

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