Emily Dickinson Lexicon

halve (-d), v. [see half, adj.]

Divide; [past participle for passive verb or verbal adj.] separated; bisected; cut in half; [fig.] opened into a half-sphere; formed with two complementary wings.

hame, n. [Scots variant of home.]

Phrase “at hame”: familiar; at the family homestead; in the accustomed place; [fig.] privately; within the family circle; not out in the world (see Robert Burns poem “Address of Beelzebub”).

Hamlet, proper n. [Germanic ham, home, + let.]

Prince of Denmark; tragic protagonist; main character in a tragedy by Shakespeare; man who avenges his father's murder; [see ED's letters.]

hammer (-s), n. [OE hamor < Germanic.]

Mallet; tool used to drive in nails; instrument for beating metals into thin sheets; work implement with a hard, solid head that is fixed crosswise to a handle.

hammock (-'s), n. [Fr. < Sp. hamaca, of Caribbean origin.]

Hanging bed; hempen cloth gathered at the ends and suspended above the ground.

hand (-s), n. [OE < Germanic.] (webplay: arm, at, beauty, between, by, care, carry, changed, Christ, clap, courteous, day, distant, divine, employed, eternal, external, familiar, far, fine, fingers, fitness, follow, feet, foot, friend, God, heart, heavy, hold, holy, idle, innocent, joy, left, lift, light, making, measure, mercies, mind, ministry, mouth, near, off, on, owner, palm, pay, perfection, pointing, power, reach, right, saw, service, shift, side, skill, spirit, strength, take, time, use, violin, within).

1. Side; one half of a bisected area.
2. Worker; [metonymy] person employed to work.
3. Claw; bird foot.
4. Clasp; graspable portion; [fig.] cover; binding of a book.
5. Protuberance; appendage; [fig.] branch; bramble; shoot; tendril.
6. Palm with thumb and fingers; appendage used to carry an object; end of arm beginning at the wrist.
7. Marker; pointer; indicator of time on a clock.
8. Phrase. “by the hand”: carefully; personally; with direct guidance.
9. Phrase. “Right hand”: [fig.] divine authority; presence of Deity; favor of God the Father (see Exodus 15:6; Matthew 25:32-33).
10. Phrase. “Hand full”: handful; amount that can be held in the cupped palm and fingers.
11. Phrase. “at hand”: near by; close by; not far away.

hand (-ed), v. [see hand, n.] (webplay: father, give).

1. Hold; maintain; gather; dispense; distribute; deal out; keep moving; [fig.] reflect; [metaphor] wind up like yarn.
2. Give; grant; impart; confer; offer hand to hand.
3. Handle; take; receive.
4. Phrase. “take thee by the hand”: Seize thee; capture thee; [fig.] receive thee; employ thee; accompany thee; deal with thee; work alongside of thee.

handle (-ed), v. [OE handlian < Germanic.] (webplay: subject).

1. Feel; touch; palpate.
2. Manage; govern; control.
3. Discuss; talk over.

handsome, adj. [see hand, n. + -some.]

Beautiful; elegant; graceful; impressive; pleasant; correct; proper; orderly.

hang (-ed, -ing, -s, hung), v. [OE hęngjan.] (webplay: air, curtain, death, head, heavens, high, movable, swing).

1. Lower in shame; bear in a suspended manner due to fatigue; carry in an inclined way in response to defeat.
2. Wait; attend; depend.
3. Dangle; suspend without support from below.
4. Strangle by the force of gravity; suffocate with a noose around the neck until dead.