horny-handed

From horny (“bony or hard like an animal’s horn, calloused, rough”) +‎ handed.^[1]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɔːniˌhændɪd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhoɹniˌhændəd/

• Audio (General American):

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• Hyphenation: horny-hand‧ed

horny-handed (comparative more horny-handed, superlative most horny-handed)

1. Having hands that are horny (calloused) and tough from manual labour; hardhanded.
   • 1906, W[illiam] S[omerset] Maugham, chapter XVI, in The Bishop’s Apron: A Study in the Origins of a Great Family, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC; republished as The Bishop’s Apron (EBook #47523), United States: Project Gutenberg, 28 June 2020:

     "My patience must be inexhaustible. I am much tempted to kick you downstairs, Mr. Railing." / "You forget that I'm a working-man and horny-handed, so it's safer not to try."

   • 1953, Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., “The Farm Implements of the Homespun Age”, in The Golden Age of Homespun, Ithaca, N.Y., London: Fall Creek Books, Cornell University Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 237:

     The pitchfork remains one of the hand tools that no invention can ever wholly replace, and I suppose that unborn generations of men will grow hornyhanded and weary in its use.

   • 1983, Emile Guillaumin, chapter XLVII, in Margaret Crosland, transl., edited by Eugen Weber, The Life of a Simple Man, Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, →ISBN, page 160:

     He was so fond of drink, that he would shamelessly accept the contemptuous hospitality of hornyhanded workmen.

   • 1985, Laurie Penman, “Tools and Equipment”, in The Clock Repairer’s Handbook, Newton Abbot, Devon, London: David & Charles; New York, N.Y.: Arco Publishing, →ISBN, page 157, column 2:

     The dot punch is used to make a more permanent mark than a pencilled or scratched line; […] The mark is made with a tap from a light hammer, although I have known horny[-]handed markers who did it with simple hand pressure.

• hornyhanded

• horny-handedly
• horny-handedness