left-handed

left-handed
    adj 1: using or intended for the left hand; "left-handed golfers
           need left-handed clubs"; "left-handed scissors" [ant:
           {ambidextrous}, {right-handed}, {two-handed}]
    2: (of marriages) illicit or informal; "in Colonial America
       left-handed marriages between Frenchmen and Indians were
       frequent"
    3: (of marriages) of a marriage between one of royal or noble
       birth and one of lower rank; valid but with the understanding
       that the rank of the inferior remains unchanged and offspring
       do not succeed to titles or property of the superior [syn:
       {morganatic}, {left-handed}]
    4: rotating to the left [syn: {levorotary}, {levorotatory},
       {left-handed}]
    5: ironically ambiguous; "a left-handed compliment"
    6: lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands;
       "a bumbling mechanic"; "a bungling performance"; "ham-handed
       governmental interference"; "could scarcely empty a scuttle
       of ashes, so handless was the poor creature"- Mary H. Vorse
       [syn: {bumbling}, {bungling}, {butterfingered}, {ham-fisted},
       {ham-handed}, {handless}, {heavy-handed}, {left-handed}]
    

Left-handed \Left"-hand`ed\, a.
   1. Having the left hand or arm stronger and more dexterous
      than the right; using the left hand and arm with more
      dexterity than the right.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Clumsy; awkward; unlucky; insincere; sinister; malicious;
      as, a left-handed compliment.
      [1913 Webster]

            The commendations of this people are not always
            left-handed and detractive.           --Landor.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Having a direction contrary to that of the hands of a
      watch when seen in front; -- said of a twist, a rotary
      motion, etc., looked at from a given direction.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Left-handed marriage}, a morganatic marriage. See
      {Morganatic}.

   {Left-handed screw}, a screw constructed to advance away from
      the observer, when turned, as in a nut, with a left-handed
      rotation. An ordinary wood screw is right-handed.
      [1913 Webster] Left-handedness
    

Left-handed
(Judg. 3:15; 20:16), one unable to use the right hand skilfully,
and who therefore uses the left; and also one who uses the left
as well as the right, ambidexter. Such a condition of the hands
is due to physical causes. This quality was common apparently in
the tribe of Benjamin.