handling
noun/ˈhændl̩ɪŋ/ · /ˈhændlɪŋ/
Etymology From Middle English handlinge, hondlunge, from Old English handlung (“handling”), equivalent to handle + -ing. Cognate with Dutch handeling (“trade, operation, action”), German Handlung (“act, action”), Swedish handling (“act, deed, action”).
1
A touching, controlling, managing, using, taking care of, etc., with the hand or hands, or as with the hands.
- baggage handling
- the heauens, and your faire handeling / Haue made you maister of the field this day1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28:
1 more example
- 1864, Oregon. Legislative Assembly. House of Representatives […] at San Francisco it is warehoused and reshipped to Liverpool, or other foreign market; and in exchange for this wheat, comes back the merchandise which has to pass through all these shipments, reshipments, warehousings, handlings, &c.
2
Obsolete The mechanism for handling or manipulating something.
- In mortal terror of people forcing an entrance at such an hour, and in such a manner as to leave no doubt of their purpose, I would have turned to fly when first I heard the noise, only that I feared by any quick motion to catch their attention, as I also ran the danger of doing by opening the door, which was all but closed, and to whose handlings I was unaccustomed.1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, The Grey Woman:
- A miniature[…]remarkable for its brilliancy of colour and charming freedom of handling.1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, Critical Reviews:
4
A criminal offence, the trade in stolen goods.
- Derived terms
- antihandling, ballhandling, double-handling, ground handling, handling boss, handling charge, handling fee, handling time, material handling, materials handling, puck handling, puck-handling, request-handling, shiphandling, shipping and handling, special handling unit