by hand

Idioms  

1. With a hand or hands, manually (as opposed to a machine or some other means). For example, This letter was delivered by hand, or You can make these drawings by hand, but computer graphics are more efficient. [Mid-1500s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

by hand

Also, at five of nine mail processing facilities studied, retail clerks who were postmarking ballots by hand sometimes used stamps with inaccurate dates, according to the report.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

Pages are sewn together with thread, either by hand or with a Smyth sewing machine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Firefighters responded, opened the rear end of the truck and used pike poles to remove the garbage by hand, according to Samuel Menchaca, a public information officer with the San Francisco Fire Department.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

After moving heavy boxes of metal tools and parts by hand between cargo pallets, he strolls over, steps into the box, sits down and smiles, running his fingers through his hair like in the shower.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

As a result, the Phaistos disk’s printing technology was much clumsier, and offered fewer advantages over writing by hand, than Gutenberg’s printing press.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond