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handhold (n.)[handhold 词源字典]: 1640s, from hand (n.) + hold (n.1).[handhold etymology, handhold origin, 英语词源]
handicap (n.): 1650s, from hand in cap, a game whereby two bettors would engage a neutral umpire to determine the odds in an unequal contest. The bettors would put their hands holding forfeit money into a hat or cap. The umpire would announce the odds and the bettors would withdraw their hands -- hands full meaning that they accepted the odds and the bet was on, hands empty meaning they did not accept the bet and were willing to forfeit the money. If one forfeited, then the money went to the other. If both agreed either on forfeiting or going ahead with the wager, then the umpire kept the money as payment. The custom, though not the name, is attested from 14c. ("Piers Plowman").

Reference to horse racing is 1754 (Handy-Cap Match), where the umpire decrees the superior horse should carry extra weight as a "handicap;" this led to sense of "encumbrance, disability" first recorded 1890. The main modern sense, "a mental or physical disability," is the last to develop, early 20c.
handicap (v.): "equalize chances of competitors," 1852, but implied in the horse-race sense from mid-18c., from handicap (n.). Meaning "put at a disadvantage" is from 1864. Earliest verbal sense, now obsolete, was "to gain as in a wagering game" (1640s). Related: Handicapped; handicapping.
handicapped (adj.): "disabled," 1915, past participle adjective from handicap (v.). Originally especially of children. Meaning "handicapped persons generally" is attested by 1958.
handicraft (n.): c. 1200, hændecraft, a corruption (perhaps from influence of handiwork) of Old English handcræft "skill of the hand," from hand (n.) + craft (n.).
handily (adv.): "readily, easily;" also "by hand," c. 1400, handeli, from handy + -ly (2). Earlier it meant "done by hand" (late 14c.).
handiwork (n.): late 12c., from Old English handgeweorc "work of the hand, creation," from hand (n.) + geweorc, collective form of weorc "work" (see work (n.)). Old English collective prefix ge- regularly reduces to i- in Middle English, and the word probably came to be felt as handy + work.
handkerchief (n.): 1520s, from hand + kerchief, originally "cloth for covering the head," but since Middle English used generally as "piece of cloth used about the person." A curious confluence of words for "hand" and "head." By-form handkercher was in use 16c.-19c. A dropped handkerchief as a token of flirtation or courtship is attested by mid-18c.
handle (n.): Old English handle "a handle" (plural handla), formed from hand (n.) with instrumental suffix -el (1) indicating a tool in the way thimble was formed from thumb, spindle from spin, treadle from tread, etc. The slang sense of "nickname" is first recorded 1870, originally U.S., from earlier expressions about adding a handle to (one's) name (1833), that is, a title such as Mister or Sir. To fly off the handle (1833) is a figurative reference to an ax head (to be off the handle "be excited" is recorded from 1825, American English). To get a handle on "get control of" is recorded by 1919.
handle (v.): Middle English hondlen, handlen, "touch with the hands, hold in the hands, fondle, pet," also "to deal with, treat, manhandle," from Old English handlian "to touch or move with the hands," also "deal with, discuss;" formed from hand (n.), perhaps with a frequentative suffix, as fondle from fond. Cognate with Old Norse höndla "to seize, capture," Danish handle "to trade, deal," Old High German hantalon "feel, touch; manage," German handeln "to bargain, trade." Related: Handled; handling. Meaning "to act towards" (someone, in a certain manner, usually with hostility or roughness) is from c. 1200. The commercial sense "to trade or deal in" was weaker in English than in some other Germanic languages, but it strengthened in American English (by 1888) from the notion of something passing through one's hands, and see handler.
handlebar (n.): also handle-bar, 1867 in reference to bicycles, from handle (n.) + bar (n.1). Handlebar mustache is from 1932, American English, from similarity of shape; the comparison, if not the phrase, dates to at least 1911.
handler (n.): late 14c., "one who handles" anything, agent noun from handle (v.). Specific sense of "one engaged in trade" is from 1690s; that of "prizefighter's assistant" (1916) was earlier used in reference to dogfights and cockfights (1825).
handling (n.): Old English handlung "action of touching or feeling," from handlian (see handle (v.)). Meaning "way in which something handles" (especially a motor vehicle) is from 1962.
handmaid (n.): "female servant," c. 1300, from hand (n.) in the sense in close at hand + maid. Compare Old English handþegn "personal attendant" and the original sense of handsome.
hands-off (adj.): by 1895, from verbal phrase; see hand (n.) + off (adv.). Hands off! as a command to desist is by 1810.
hands-on (adj.): by 1969, originally in reference to the use of computers in education; see hand (n.) + on (adv.).
handshake (n.): also hand-shake, 1801, from hand (n.) + shake (n.). Hand-shaking is attested from 1805; to shake hands is from 16c.
handsome (adj.): c. 1400, handsom "easy to handle, ready at hand," from hand (n.) + -some (1). Sense extended to "fit, appropriate" (1550s, implied in handsomely), then "having fine form, good-looking, agreeable to the eye" (1580s). Meaning "generous, on a liberal scale" (of rewards, etc.) first recorded 1680s.
[Americans] use the word "handsome" much more extensively than we do: saying that Webster made a handsome speech in the Senate: that a lady talks handsomely, (eloquently:) that a book sells handsomely. A gentleman asked me on the Catskill Mountain, whether I thought the sun handsomer there than at New York. [Harriet Martineau, "Society in America," 1837]
Related: Handsomeness. For sense development, compare pretty (adj.). Similar formation in Dutch handzaam "tractable, serviceable."
handsomely (adv.): 1540s, "conveniently," from handsome + -ly (2). Meaning "attractively" is from 1610s; "liberally, generously" from 1735.
handstand (n.): also hand-stand, 1897 as an athletic feat, from hand (n.) + stand (n.).