handly

adj — 2 senses

handly

adj

Etymology From Middle English handly, handliche; equivalent to hand + -ly. Compare German handlich (“handy, manageable”), Swedish handlig (“handy”).

1

Rare Synonym of handy.

George W. Greene's " Short History of Rhode Island" (1877) is a handly manual but nothing more.1921, Peter George Mode, Source book and bibliographical guide for American church history:
[…] Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris published a handly manual in off-set intitled Bibliography — International Migration of Manpower (1).1971, World justice: Volume 12

1 more example

The Practical Guide for Italy, comprising the North and Central portions of the Peninsula has just been issued, and fully sustains the established character of the series. It is accompanied with a handly little map illustrative of the war.1859, The Spectator, volume 32:

2

Obsolete Of or pertaining to the hand; manual.

The word handly has no asterisk because it is in fact recorded several times in Middle English, and with precisely the meaning 'manual'.[2009, Philip Durkin, The Oxford guide to etymology:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.