Meaning & use
back of the hand
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Meanings
nounsingular
The outer side of the hand, the part you see when your fingers are curled toward your palm and your palm faces away.
Grammar: Used with 'the' or a possessive: she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
Patterns
- with the back of your hand
- on the back of someone's hand
He wiped the flour off his forehead with the back of his hand.
The nurse felt the child's forehead with the back of her hand to check for a fever.
A tiny tattoo of a star sat on the back of her hand.
phraseidiomold-fashionedfigurative
Open scorn or dismissal, shown by refusing to take someone or something seriously, as in the phrase 'give someone the back of your hand'.
Grammar: Used in the fixed phrase 'the back of your hand', usually with the verb give.
Patterns
- give someone the back of your hand
When the young designer offered her ideas, the board gave her the back of its hand.
He expected thanks for his advice, but she gave him the back of her hand instead.
The old king gave the rebels' petition the back of his hand.
Word forms
| plural | backs of the hands |
|---|
Common combinations
- wipe with the back of your hand
- The boy wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
- know like the back of your hand
- After thirty years as a cab driver, he knows the city like the back of his hand.
- kiss the back of someone's hand
- The ambassador bowed and kissed the back of her hand.
- slap with the back of the hand
- In the old film, the villain was slapped with the back of the hand.
- veins on the back of the hand
- The veins on the back of her hand stood out as she gripped the rail.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dismissal
- Dismissal is a general word for waving something aside, while the back of the hand adds a picture of open, almost insulting contempt.
- snub
- A snub is a single act of ignoring someone, whereas giving the back of your hand suggests firmly rejecting an offer or idea.
- rebuff
- A rebuff is a blunt refusal of an approach and is more formal than this old-fashioned image.
Opposites
Word family
- backhand noun
- a stroke made with the back of the hand facing forward, as in tennis
- backhanded adjective
- said in a way that sounds like praise but hides an insult
- hand noun
- the body part at the end of the arm
- palm noun
- the inner surface of the hand, opposite the back
Commonly confused: back of the hand or palm of the hand?
back of the hand vs palm of the hand
The palm is the inner surface you use to hold things, while the back of the hand is the opposite side with the knuckles.
Practice
I grew up on this street, so I know every shop on it like the ___ of my hand.
Choose one answer.
The fixed idiom is 'know something like the back of your hand', meaning to know it extremely well. 'Palm' is tempting because it is also part of the hand, but it is not used in this idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “back of the hand”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.