manual alphabet
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of manual alphabet
First recorded in 1860–65
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.
Rather than getting angry at us, hearing people can type text on their phones, try a speech-to-text transcription app or learn the ASL manual alphabet for basic exchanges, use gestures, or employ pen and paper.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 16, 2020
The manual alphabet, or fingerspelling, is thought by some to have been invented by monks in the 8th Century who had taken a vow of silence and needed another way of communicating.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2013
The manual alphabet was then published as an an illustration in popular author Daniel Defoe's book about a deaf man, The Life and Times of Mr Duncan Campbell, from 1720.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2013
Soon, says Arthur Penn, "Patty and Anne were carrying on conversations in the manual alphabet behind our backs, cracking jokes and having themselves a time."
From Time Magazine Archive
Language, Wallis maintained, should be taught when the pupil had first learned to write, and the written characters should be associated with some sort of manual alphabet.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 10 "David, St" to "Demidov" by Various
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.
