unhand
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]unhand (third-person singular simple present unhands, present participle unhanding, simple past and past participle unhanded)
- To release from the hand; to let go.
- 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, part 1, lines 9-12:
- He holds him with his skinny hand,
"There was a ship," quoth he.
"Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!"
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
- 1853, Oliver Optic, Hatchie, The Guardian Slave or The Heiress of Bellevue. A Tale of the Mississippi and the South-west[1], B. B. Mussey and Company, and R. B. Fitts and Company, Chapter XXX, page 305:
- “Unhand' the lady!” said Vernon, in a severe tone, as, at the same time, he draw from his pocket a pistol. “Unhand her!” and he approached the lawyer