handful
part of speech
noun (a handful, handfuls)
meaning for a pupil
1) The amount you can hold in one hand: «a handful of sweets». tree →
2) A small number of people or things: «Only a handful of children came». tree →
3) (informal, a handful) A person or animal that is hard to control: «The puppy is a handful». tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: It means the amount one hand can hold, as in the soot for the plague or a portion of the meal offering. The later books use it as a picture: a little quiet is better than hands full of toil, fallen bodies lie like stalks left behind by the reaper, and Ben-hadad boasts that Samaria's dust would not give his army a handful each. In the primary lessons: In cooking and science, «a handful» is a rough, not exact, measure. In maths word problems «a handful» means only a few, not a fixed number. In everyday life «a real handful» describes a lively, naughty child or pet. Phrases: «a handful of», «a real handful».
examples
- And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron: 'Take to you handfuls of soot of the furnace, and let Moses throw it heavenward in the sight of Pharaoh. (Torah EXO.9.8, JPS 1917) tree →
- And the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial-part thereof, and make it smoke upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. (Torah NUM.5.26, JPS 1917) tree →
- Better is a handful of quietness, than both the hands full of labour and striving after wind. (Writings ECC.4.6, JPS 1917) tree →
- Speak: Thus saith the LORD — And the carcasses of men fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, which none gathereth.' (Prophets JER.9.21, JPS 1917) tree →
- And Ben-hadad sent unto him, and said: 'The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me.' (Prophets 1KI.20.10, JPS 1917) tree →
- She grabbed a handful of popcorn. tree →
- Add a handful of nuts to the salad. tree →
- Only a handful of people came to the meeting. tree →
- Our new puppy is a real handful! tree →
- He threw a handful of seeds to the birds. tree →
- A handful of stars shone through the clouds. tree →
- Twenty thousand Persian soldiers had fallen before that handful of men. tree →
note
Plural: handfuls (also handsful, rare). Spelling: one l at the end. «A handful» is never an exact number; in a maths problem you need the actual number. «A handful of» + plural noun: a handful of coins.
In the corpora
- Better is a handful of quietness, than both the hands full of labour and striving after wind.
- "A handful" means hard to control.
- Harry in Manchester grabbed a handful of sweets from the pick-and-mix because nobody was watching.
- Soil is alive: one handful of good soil holds more tiny living things than there are people on Earth.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «handful» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.