BACKHAND • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Backhand

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/bˈækhˌænd/ Listen

adjective

Backhand adj.

Sloping from left to right; said of handwriting.

Backhanded; indirect; oblique. (R.)

noun

Backhand n.

A kind of handwriting in which the downward slope of the letters is from left to right.

(Sports) The stroke of a ball with a racket or paddle, in which head of the racket starts from the side of the body opposite to that of the arm in which the racket is held, and proceeds forward to meet the ball. Contrasted with forehand.

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Etymology of 'Backhand'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Backhand" Quotes from Famous Books

... player must not be hampered by a glaring weakness in the fundamentals of his own game, or he will be so occupied trying to hide it that he will have no time to worry his opponent. The fundamental weakness of Gerald Patterson's backhand stroke is so apparent that any player within his class dwarfs Patterson's style by continually pounding at it. The Patterson overhead and service are first class, yet both are rendered impotent, once a man has solved the method of returning ...

— The Art of Lawn Tennis • William T. Tilden, 2D

... person who habitually writes a fine, small hand, sloping from right to left, may believe that he has altered the character of his hand by using a thick, soft quill, reversing the slope to what is called a backhand, and doubling the size of the letters. All he has done is to put on a different suit of clothes; the same man is in them. The use of a thick pen does not make him put a dot over the i where before he made an horizontal dash; it does not turn a straight, barred ...

— The Detection of Forgery • Douglas Blackburn