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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of handheld¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

While the chocolate and butter are melting, in a medium bowl, using a whisk or handheld mixer on medium-high, beat together the egg, yolk and sugar until light, thick and pale yellow.

From Washington Post

Originally developed to aid military personnel during the Second World War, walkie-talkies are handheld portable radios that work off single frequency wireless signals to broadcast messages miles away.

From Popular-Science

Once detached, it can be used as a handheld, often with additional heads or attachments.

From Popular-Science

In many cases, you’ll find you’re getting extra bang for your buck as sticks are the type of cleaner that most readily can be converted to a handheld, ideal if you want to clean the car or deep-clean the sofa.

From Popular-Science

It came together in a matter of moments to create a tasty handheld meal.

From Washington Post

The joint venture entails Corgenix migrating the rapid diagnostic tests into a handheld device designed by Nanomix.

From The Daily Beast

“I stopped and yelled on my handheld radio for help,” the affidavit reports.

From The Daily Beast

The market for handheld devices is now crowded with competitors.

From The Daily Beast

The Army wants a handheld directed-energy weapon that is capable of both inflicting pain or using lethal force.

From The Daily Beast

The tough part may be making such a device small enough to be handheld.

From The Daily Beast

If readers have difficulty seeing them on mobile or handheld devices, they are available as text in the .

From Project Gutenberg

Subscripted and superscripted characters do not always display correctly on handheld devices.

From Project Gutenberg

Symbols representing male and female have been replaced by M and F in the handheld version.

From Project Gutenberg

In addition, for handheld devices, gesperrt within the text was replaced with bold font.

From Project Gutenberg

In some handheld devices, the font for definitions may appear in bold.

From Project Gutenberg