cack-handed

Definition

Clumsy; inept.

Etymology

From cag (“knob, stump”) + handed; cf. also cack (“excrement”).

Example Sentences

• "Constance endeavoured to get eight little boys to dance also; but the little lads were to shy, what an old woman, speaking of her grandson, calls “too daffish and keck-handed to learn such aunty-praunty antics,” and all that Constance could get in the way of male support was to induce eight little lads to look on, bend their knees, and bow at intervals, whilst the maidens sang and danced."
• "There is the chairperson who will introduce you by saying that you need no introduction, and who will bring the session to a close with some cack-handed joke based on a phrase plucked from your talk."
• "‘Just bend your arms and cradle him on them,’ I told her. She was so cack-handed I could hardly watch. I was short with her when I said, ‘Have you never held a baby before?’"