handheld

or hand-held

[ hand-held ]

adjective
  1. held in the hand or hands: a handheld torch.

  2. small enough to be used or operated while being held in the hand or hands: a handheld hair drier.

noun
  1. something small enough to be used or operated while held in the hand or hands: She traded in her bulky old movie camera for a handheld.

Origin of handheld

1
First recorded in 1920–25

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use handheld in a sentence

  • For by the lightning's angry flash,His child he did discover; One lovely hand held all the cash,And one was round her lover!

  • His left elbow rested upon the bar, and his hand held a glass of red liquor.

  • A braid of her hair had fallen, and she was in the act of arranging it, while one hand held up her drooping riding-dress.

    Tony Butler | Charles James Lever

British Dictionary definitions for hand-held

hand-held

adjective
  1. held in position by the hand

  2. (of a film camera) held rather than mounted, as in close-up action shots

  1. (of an electronic device) able to be held in the hand and not requiring connection to a fixed power source

noun
  1. a computer that can be held in the hand

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012