Black Hand
- Italian La Mano Nera. any of various secret criminal groups organized in Italy and operating in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, practicing blackmail and violence.
- an anarchistic society in Spain, suppressed in 1883.
- a nationalistic society in Serbia, suppressed in 1914.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for black hand
Historical Examples
Cecala proved a valuable aid to the two "Black-Hand" captains.
The Barrel MysteryWilliam J. (William James) Flynn
We can throttle anything from a black-hand agent to a ghost.
Campfire Girls in the Allegheny MountainsStella M. Francis
He will never be reached by the Black-Hand gang without several of them paying with their lives for his.
The Barrel MysteryWilliam J. (William James) Flynn
Another letter follows which may also help the reader to a conclusion as to whether such a thing exists as a "Black-Hand" Society.
The Barrel MysteryWilliam J. (William James) Flynn
Black Hand
- a group of Sicilian blackmailers and terrorists formed in the 1870s and operating in the US in the early 20th century
- (in 19th-century Spain) an organization of anarchists
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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
Word Origin and History for black hand
Black Hand
n.
Italian immigrant secret society in U.S., 1904; earlier a Spanish anarchist society, both from the warning mark they displayed to potential victims.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper