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unhand

American  
[uhn-hand] / ʌnˈhænd /

verb (used with object)

  • unhands,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • unhanded,
    past participle,  past
  • unhanding
    present participle
  1. to take the hand or hands from; release from a grasp; let go.

    Unhand me, you wretched coward!


unhand British  
/ ʌnˈhænd /

verb

  1. archaic (tr) to release from the grasp

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future


Etymology

Origin of unhand

First recorded in 1595–1605; un- 2 + hand


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:

They stage a melodrama in the lobby in which the business of "unhand that woman" and "the viper beats my mother" is used with proper gusto.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Dog, unhand our royal charger. We are the Empress Jadis.”

From "The Magician's Nephew" by C. S. Lewis

“I pray you unhand me, Humphrey; my old friend, you are too rough.”

From Sir Ludar A Story of the Days of the Great Queen Bess by Talbot Baines Reed

"Unhand me," she said, alarmed; "unhand me at once, or I'll scream."

From The Pobratim A Slav Novel by P. Jones

"But replaced by—by—by—Oh God, Isabel, unhand me!" cried Pierre, starting up.

From Pierre; or The Ambiguities by Herman Melville

Theo immediately unhands me, putting his palms in the air to show he has no intention of touching me again and looking worried and baffled at once.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

When the habit of books becomes the habit of a man he unhands himself at will from space and time; he finds the universe is his universe.

From The Lost Art of Reading by Gerald Stanley Lee

Gower unhands her, and, lifting one side of his would-be blind, regards her fixedly.

From The Hoyden by Duchess

The program's sponsor, Charles Revson, president of Revlon Products Corp., had more than the occasion to be choked up about as he unhanded the Big Check.

From Time Magazine Archive

Conversely, humanities lag at Rochester, and Board Chairman Wilson has personally unhanded $1,000,000 for improvement.

From Time Magazine Archive

Said I not that the gods, as well as mankind, had unhanded themselves from this Pierre?

From Pierre; or The Ambiguities by Herman Melville

There was a brisk wind blowing, and the beggar turned about to face it, directly they had unhanded him.

From Robin Hood by J. Walker (Joseph Walker) McSpadden

She never wants to be "unhanded" or "let to pass."

From Stage-Land by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome

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