whole-handedly

English

Adverb

whole-handedly

1. (uncommon) With one's whole hand or hands; (figuratively) comprehensively.
   • 1913, The Smith College Monthly:

     I always knew that a cactus was dangerous, so I said to myself, “'Tis these great spikes one must avoid," and threw myself whole-heartedly and whole-handedly into stroking the beautiful green spaces between.

   • 1924, Arthur Henry Bullen, Elizabethans:

     It must, however, be remembered that Dekker and Day had “collaborated: on more than one occasion, and it is open to a generous critic to assume that one of the two writers put his work whole-handedly at the disposal of the other.

   • 1950, Crichton Porteous, Derbyshire:

     […] and when touched are grabbed whole-handedly. A friend who is an expert says there is more skill in this than in fishing with fly, but I fancy that those who use rod and line will not agree.

   • 1999, Access Reports/freedom of Information:

     Indeed, the record convinces the court that the government whole-handedly controls and blatantly influences EMMES' action with respect to disclosure of the documents.

   • 2004, Edward Bruce Ford, Jean Giono's Hidden Reality, Edwin Mellen Press, →ISBN:

     Naïve, with the grace of a virgin playing at stirring up the flowers of an almond tree, she raised, whole-handedly, the scented froth of her intimate apparel. A wave of painful joy ran through Duvauchelle.

Alternative forms

• wholehandedly