Handsome

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: hand=some

CIDE DICTIONARY

Handsome, a. [Hand + -some. It at first meant, dexterous; cf. D. handzaam dexterous, ready, limber, manageable, and E. handy.].

•  Dexterous; skillful; handy; ready; convenient; -- applied to things as persons.  [1913 Webster]

  "That they [engines of war] be both easy to be carried and handsome to be moved and turned about."  [1913 Webster]

  "For a thief it is so handsome as it may seem it was first invented for him."  [1913 Webster]
•  Agreeable to the eye or to correct taste; having a pleasing appearance or expression; attractive; having symmetry and dignity; comely; -- expressing more than pretty, and less than beautiful; as, a handsome man or woman; a handsome garment, house, tree, horse.  [1913 Webster]
•  Suitable or fit in action; marked with propriety and ease; graceful; becoming; appropriate; as, a handsome style, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  "Easiness and handsome address in writing."  [1913 Webster]
•  Evincing a becoming generosity or nobleness of character; liberal; generous.  [1913 Webster]

  "Handsome is as handsome does."  [1913 Webster]
•  Ample; moderately large.  [1913 Webster]

  "He . . . accumulated a handsome sum of money."  [1913 Webster]

To do the handsome thing, to act liberally. [Colloq.]

Syn. -- Handsome, Pretty.

Handsome, v. t. 

 To render handsome.  Donne  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Handsome, adj. (handsomer, handsomest)
1 (of a person) good-looking.
2 (of a building etc.) imposing, attractive.
3 a generous, liberal (a handsome present; handsome treatment). b (of a price, fortune, etc., as assets gained) considerable.

Derivative

handsomeness n.

Etymology

ME, = easily handled, f. HAND + -SOME(1)

THESAURUS

Handsome

abundant, aesthetic, aesthetically appealing, ample, attractive, august, beauteous, beautiful, big, bighearted, bonny, bounteous, bountiful, chic, chivalrous, comely, considerable, dashing, elegant, elevated, endowed with beauty, exalted, exquisite, eye-filling, fair, fashionable, fine, flowerlike, free, freehanded, freehearted, generous, giving, good, good-looking, goodly, graceful, gracile, gracious, great, great of heart, greathearted, heavy, heroic, high, high-minded, hospitable, idealistic, knightly, large, largehearted, lavish, liberal, lofty, lovely, magnanimous, majestic, modish, munificent, noble, noble-minded, open, openhanded, openhearted, pretty, princely, profuse, pulchritudinous, sizeable, smart, stately, stintless, stylish, sublime, substantial, ungrudging, unselfish, unsparing, unstinted, unstinting

ROGET THESAURUS

Handsome

Liberality

N liberality, generosity, munificence, bounty, bounteousness, bountifulness, hospitality, charity, liberal, free, generous, charitable, hospitable, bountiful, bounteous, handsome, unsparing, ungrudging, unselfish, open handed, free handed, full handed, open hearted, large hearted, free hearted, munificent, princely, overpaid, handsome is that handsome does.

Beauty

N beauty, the beautiful, to kalon, le beau ideal, aesthetics, callaesthetics, pulchritude, form, elegance, grace, beauty unadorned, natural beauty, symmetry, comeliness, fairness, polish, gloss, good effect, good looks, belle tournure, trigness, bloom, brilliancy, radiance, splendor, gorgeousness, magnificence, sublimity, sublimification, concinnity, delicacy, refinement, charm, je ne sais quoi, style, Venus, Aphrodite, Hebe, the Graces, Peri, Houri, Cupid, Apollo, Hyperion, Adonis, Antionous, Narcissus, peacock, butterfly, garden, flower of, pink of, bijou, jewel, work of art, flower, flow'ret gay, wildflower, rose, lily, anemone, asphodel, buttercup, crane's bill, daffodil, tulip, tiger lily, day lily, begonia, marigold, geranium, lily of the valley, ranunculus, rhododendron, windflower, pleasurableness, beautifying, landscaping, landscape gardening, decoration, calisthenics, beauty, hunk (of men), beautiful, beauteous, handsome, gorgeous, pretty, lovely, graceful, elegant, prepossessing, attractive, delicate, dainty, refined, fair, personable, comely, seemly, bonny, good-looking, well-favored, well-made, well-formed, well- proportioned, proper, shapely, symmetrical, harmonious, sightly, fit to be seen, passable, not amiss, goodly, dapper, tight, jimp, gimp, janty, jaunty, trig, natty, quaint, trim, tidy, neat, spruce, smart, tricksy, bright, bright eyed, rosy cheeked, cherry cheeked, rosy, ruddy, blooming, in full bloom, brilliant, shining, beamy, beaming, sparkling, splendid, resplendent, dazzling, glowing, glossy, sleek, rich, superb, magnificent, grand, fine, sublime, showy, specious, artistic, artistical, aesthetic, picturesque, pictorial, fait a peindre, well-composed, well grouped, well varied, curious, enchanting becoming, ornamental, undeformed, undefaced, unspotted, spotless, auxilium non leve vultus habet, beauty born of murmuring sound, flowers preach to us if we will hear, gratior ac pulchro veniens in corpore virtus, none but the brave deserve the fair, thou who hast the fatal gift of beauty.

Disinterestedness

N disinterestedness, generosity, liberality, liberalism, altruism, benevolence, elevation, loftiness of purpose, exaltation, magnanimity, chivalry, chivalrous spirit, heroism, sublimity, self-denial, self-abnegation, self-sacrifice, self-immolation, self-control, stoicism, devotion, martyrdom, suttee, labor of love, disinterested, unselfish, self-denying, self-sacrificing, self- devoted, generous, handsome, liberal, noble, broad-minded, noble-minded, high-minded, princely, great, high, elevated, lofty, exalted, spirited, stoical, magnanimous, great-hearted, large-hearted, chivalrous, heroic, sublime, unbought, unbribed, uncorrupted, non vobis solum.