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handwriting

 - 6 dictionary results

hand⋅writ⋅ing

[hand-rahy-ting]
–noun
1. writing done with a pen or pencil in the hand; script.
2. a style or manner of writing by hand, esp. that which characterizes a particular person; penmanship: an eccentric handwriting.
3. a handwritten document; manuscript.
4. handwriting on the wall, a premonition, portent, or clear indication, esp. of failure or disaster: The company had ignored the handwriting on the wall and was plunged into bankruptcy. Also, writing on the wall.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME hand writyng; see hand + writing

hand⋅write

[hand-rahyt]
–verb (used with object), -wrote or (Archaic) -writ; -writ⋅ten or (Archaic) -writ; writ⋅ing.
to write (something) by hand.

Origin:
1840–50; back formation from handwriting
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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hand·write   (hānd'rīt')   
tr.v.   hand·wrote (-rōt'), hand·writ·ten (-rĭt'n), hand·writ·ing, hand·writes
To write by hand.

[Back-formation from handwritten.]
hand·writ·ing   (hānd'rī'tĭng)   
n.  
  1. Writing done with the hand.

  2. The writing characteristic of a particular person.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

handwriting 
1500, from hand + writing (see write), translating L. manuscriptum. Hand in the sense of "handwriting, style of writing" is from 1390.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Handwriting

(Col. 2:14). The "blotting out the handwriting" is the removal by the grace of the gospel of the condemnation of the law which we had broken.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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