Handsome

handsome
    adj 1: pleasing in appearance especially by reason of conformity
           to ideals of form and proportion; "a fine-looking woman";
           "a good-looking man"; "better-looking than her sister";
           "very pretty but not so extraordinarily handsome"-
           Thackeray; "our southern women are well-favored"- Lillian
           Hellman [syn: {fine-looking}, {good-looking}, {better-
           looking}, {handsome}, {well-favored}, {well-favoured}]
    2: given or giving freely; "was a big tipper"; "the bounteous
       goodness of God"; "bountiful compliments"; "a freehanded
       host"; "a handsome allowance"; "Saturday's child is loving
       and giving"; "a liberal backer of the arts"; "a munificent
       gift"; "her fond and openhanded grandfather" [syn: {big},
       {bighearted}, {bounteous}, {bountiful}, {freehanded},
       {handsome}, {giving}, {liberal}, {openhanded}]
    

Handsome \Hand"some\, v. t.
   To render handsome. [Obs.] --Donne
   [1913 Webster]
    

Handsome \Hand"some\ (h[a^]n"s[u^]m; 277), a. [Compar.
   {Handsomer} (-[~e]r); superl. {Handsomest}.] [Hand + -some.
   It at first meant, dexterous; cf. D. handzaam dexterous,
   ready, limber, manageable, and E. handy.]
   1. Dexterous; skillful; handy; ready; convenient; -- applied
      to things as persons. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            That they [engines of war] be both easy to be
            carried and handsome to be moved and turned about.
                                                  --Robynson
                                                  (Utopia).
      [1913 Webster]

            For a thief it is so handsome as it may seem it was
            first invented for him.               --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Agreeable to the eye or to correct taste; having a
      pleasing appearance or expression; attractive; having
      symmetry and dignity; comely; -- expressing more than
      pretty, and less than beautiful; as, a handsome man or
      woman; a handsome garment, house, tree, horse.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Suitable or fit in action; marked with propriety and ease;
      graceful; becoming; appropriate; as, a handsome style,
      etc.
      [1913 Webster]

            Easiness and handsome address in writing. --Felton.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Evincing a becoming generosity or nobleness of character;
      liberal; generous.
      [1913 Webster]

            Handsome is as handsome does.         --Old Proverb.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Ample; moderately large.
      [1913 Webster]

            He . . . accumulated a handsome sum of money. --V.
                                                  Knox.
      [1913 Webster]

   {To do the handsome thing}, to act liberally. [Colloq.]

   Syn: {Handsome}, {Pretty}.

   Usage: Pretty applies to things comparatively small, which
          please by their delicacy and grace; as, a pretty girl,
          a pretty flower, a pretty cottage. Handsome rises
          higher, and is applied to objects on a larger scale.
          We admire what is handsome, we are pleased with what
          is pretty. The word is connected with hand, and has
          thus acquired the idea of training, cultivation,
          symmetry, and proportion, which enters so largely into
          our conception of handsome. Thus Drayton makes mention
          of handsome players, meaning those who are well
          trained; and hence we speak of a man's having a
          handsome address, which is the result of culture; of a
          handsome horse or dog, which implies well proportioned
          limbs; of a handsome face, to which, among other
          qualities, the idea of proportion and a graceful
          contour are essential; of a handsome tree, and a
          handsome house or villa. So, from this idea of
          proportion or suitableness, we have, with a different
          application, the expressions, a handsome fortune, a
          handsome offer.
          [1913 Webster]
    

80 Moby Thesaurus words for "handsome":
      abundant, aesthetic, aesthetically appealing, ample, attractive,
      august, beauteous, beautiful, big, bighearted, bonny, bounteous,
      bountiful, chic, chivalrous, comely, considerable, dashing,
      elegant, elevated, endowed with beauty, exalted, exquisite,
      eye-filling, fair, fashionable, fine, flowerlike, free, freehanded,
      freehearted, generous, giving, good, good-looking, goodly,
      graceful, gracile, gracious, great, great of heart, greathearted,
      heavy, heroic, high, high-minded, hospitable, idealistic, knightly,
      large, largehearted, lavish, liberal, lofty, lovely, magnanimous,
      majestic, modish, munificent, noble, noble-minded, open,
      openhanded, openhearted, pretty, princely, profuse,
      pulchritudinous, sizeable, smart, stately, stintless, stylish,
      sublime, substantial, ungrudging, unselfish, unsparing, unstinted,
      unstinting