handiness

Rifle exercises have for their purpose the development of "handiness" with the piece.

Military Instructors Manual Oliver Schoonmaker

= The object of these exercises, which may also be performed with wands or bar bells, is to develop the muscles of the arms, shoulders, and back so that the men will become accustomed to the weight of the piece and learn to wield it with that "handiness" so essential to its successful use.

Manual of Military Training Second, Revised Edition 1906

From his Indian half he had his love of tramping which made him choose the wandering trade of trunk pedler; his French half made him a good trader and talker; while his Yankee half endowed him with a universal Yankee trait, a "handiness," which showed in scores of gifts and accomplishments and knacks that made him as warmly greeted everywhere as were his attractive trunks.

Home Life in Colonial Days Alice Morse Earle 1881

Women were forced to be notable housekeepers; men were compelled to attend to every detail of masculine labor in their households and on their farms, thus acquiring and developing a "handiness" at all trades, which has become a Yankee trait.

Customs and Fashions in Old New England Alice Morse Earle 1881

One was a singular "handiness" about doing anything and everything, from laying out a railroad or organizing a political party, down to sewing on buttons, shoeing a horse, or setting a broken leg, or a hen.

Roughing It Mark Twain 1872

One was a singular "handiness" about doing anything and everything, from laying out a railroad or organizing a political party, down to sewing on buttons, shoeing a horse, or setting a broken leg, or a hen.

Roughing It, Part 4. Mark Twain 1872

One was a singular "handiness" about doing anything and everything, from laying out a railroad or organizing a political party, down to sewing on buttons, shoeing a horse, or setting a broken leg, or a hen.

Roughing It 1871

Though a little awkward at first in the use of his unfamiliar implements, his practice in all athletic accomplishments bestowed on him that invaluable quality which is termed "handiness," and he soon distinguished himself by the superior activity and neatness with which he performed his work.

Kenelm Chillingly — Volume 02 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

Some linguists have attributed the appeal of this misinterpretation to its "handiness" as a rhetorical device and an optimistic "call to action."

Fragments From Floyd fred 2010

The instruction shall aim at providing he pupil with the general handiness which is of great importance to every man, especially to the manual laborer, and also with skill in some home industry (sloyd) most suitable to the general public of our land.

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