handbreadth

Alteration (due to breadth) of Middle English handbrede, hondbrede (“handbreadth”); equivalent to hand +‎ breadth. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Houndebratte (“handbreadth”), West Frisian hânbreedte (“handbreadth”), Dutch handbreedte (“handbreadth”), German Handbreite (“handbreadth”), Swedish handsbredd (“handbreadth”), Norwegian håndsbredd (“handbreadth”), Icelandic handbreidd (“handbreadth”).

handbreadth (plural handbreadths)

1. A space equal to the breadth of the hand; a palm.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalm 39:5:

     Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee:

   • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XXIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:

     […] I saw the library casement open a handbreadth; I knew I might be watched thence; so I went apart into the orchard.

   • 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 14, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Florence, Italy: […] Tipografia Giuntina, […]], →OCLC; republished as Lady Chatterley’s Lover (eBook no. 0100181h.html)‎, Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, August 2011, archived from the original on 11 November 2020:

     She followed him into the scullery, and combed her hair before the handbreadth of mirror by the back door.

• (Judaism) tefach, tefah