- a variation of eldest hand.
elder hand
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of elder hand
First recorded in 1580–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 1817, the French Academy honorably mentioned Victor's "Odes on the Advantages of Study," with a misgiving that some elder hand was masked under the line ascribing "scant fifteen years" to the author.
From Poems by Hugo, Victor
The laws prescribe that the scores, whether obtained by the elder hand or by the dealer, shall be reckoned in the following order of precedence—viz.:
From Hoyle's Games Modernized by Hoffmann, Louis
Where the dealer takes up the trump voluntarily, the elder hand is, of course, upon the defensive, and to lead a trump under such circumstances would be disastrous.
From Hoyle's Games Modernized by Hoffmann, Louis
It is considered desirable for you, if elder hand, to take all five of your cards, unless you have a chance of a great score, and there can be no repique against you.
From Hoyle's Games Modernized by Hoffmann, Louis
Can the elder hand beg more than once?
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 24 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
