panhandle
1 Americannoun
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the handle of a pan.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) a long, narrow, projecting strip of territory that is not a peninsula, especially such a part of a specified state.
the panhandle of Alaska; the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to accost and beg from.
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to obtain by accosting and begging from someone.
noun
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(sometimes capital) (in the US) a narrow strip of land that projects from one state into another
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(in a South African city) a plot of land without street frontage
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
panhandlesimple
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panhandlessimple
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have panhandledperfect
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has panhandledperfect
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am panhandlingprogressive
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are panhandlingprogressive
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is panhandlingprogressive
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have been panhandlingperfect progressive
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has been panhandlingperfect progressive
Past
-
panhandledsimple
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had panhandledperfect
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was panhandlingprogressive
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were panhandlingprogressive
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had been panhandlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of panhandle1
First recorded in 1855–60; pan 1 + handle
Origin of panhandle2
An Americanism first recorded in 1885–90; so called from the resemblance of the extended arm to a panhandle 1
Explanation
To panhandle is to beg for money outside, on a public street. Someone who needs money to buy a bus ticket home might panhandle. When people panhandle, they ask passers-by for cash. A man who's lost his job might panhandle so he can get something to eat. and a college student might panhandle on a busy street for money to buy a ticket to a concert. Panhandle is also a noun meaning a long, thin geographical area that's shaped like the handle of a frying pan. Both meanings date from the mid-19th century.
Vocabulary lists containing panhandle
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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.
See Examples For:
Department of Homeland Security quietly bought an 825,000-square-foot warehouse in the state’s conservative western panhandle.
From Slate ● Apr. 27, 2026
A similar warning was issued for parts of the Florida panhandle.
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2026
Smith of Franklin County, Fla., in the state’s panhandle, initially criticized ICE officers for not communicating with local law enforcement but said he has since opened a dialogue with them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
In the age of artificial intelligence, it turns out that owning 5,700 acres of land in the Texas panhandle can outweigh having no revenue to speak of.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2025
That afternoon, Cade Hernandez and I traversed the desolate panhandle of Texas and crossed over the line into Oklahoma.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
Another man said his friend, who regularly panhandles on a busy street, has been missing since the takeover began.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2025
Williams spends most nights sleeping on park benches in Silver Spring, where he said he panhandles for money, asking strangers whether they can spare 50 cents for bus fare for a veteran.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 2, 2019
She panhandles in Tijuana to make a few pesos, not enough to help her impoverished family back home.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2019
For the fourth consecutive day, tornadoes strafed the middle of the country Thursday, this time concentrated in sparsely populated panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas.
From Fox News ● May 24, 2019
Distribution.—Western and southern Colorado, southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona and northern New Mexico, east to the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma and to southwestern Kansas.
From Geographic Variation in the Harvest Mouse, Reithrodontomys megalotis, On the Central Great Plains And in Adjacent Regions by Jones, J. Knox
No one camped on the sidewalks or panhandled at the park.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 29, 2022
“She’d panhandled on the street but she gave most of her money away.”
From The Guardian ● Mar. 8, 2020
She rehabilitated a homeless man who panhandled outside the shop, and he became a model salesman.
From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2018
A 2015 city government survey found there were 6,686 homeless, and many of them slept or panhandled on the streets around Super Bowl City, the blocks-long exhibition party.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 7, 2016
The underground staff scoured the countryside for paper and other supplies and panhandled on the streets of Manila for money.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
“When neighborhoods are plagued by issues such as aggressive panhandling, unruly street vending, public urination, abandoned vehicles, it gives the impression of an unsafe community,” she said in January.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 19, 2025
While camping, aggressive panhandling, and other actions are currently illegal in D.C.,
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2025
In addition, there are rule changes on "panhandling, discrimination, consuming outside alcohol and vaping."
From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2025
Silva proudly displays his sketchbooks and says he’s a tattoo artist, but these days he spends most of his time panhandling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
“Umm...right, so the house went into foreclosure in 2009. That’s a year before he was spotted panhandling in the city.”
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
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.
