handsome

Definition

Having a pleasing appearance, good-looking, attractive, particularly

Etymology

From Middle English handsum, hondsom, equivalent to hand + -some. Compare Dutch handzaam, German Low German handsaam. The original sense was ‘easy to handle or use’, hence ‘suitable’ and ‘apt, clever’ (mid 16th century), giving rise to the current appreciatory senses (late 16th century).

Example Sentences

• "That is one handsome tree you've got there."
• "I saw, I confess, some good dancing and some handsome women, which was all my pleasure."
• "At the farther end of this great lamp-lit apartment was another doorway closed in with heavy Oriental-looking curtains, quite unlike those that hung before the doors of our own rooms, and here stood two particularly handsome girl mutes, their heads bowed upon their bosoms and their hands crossed in an attitude of humble submission."