*1: USING BOTH HANDS WITH EQUAL EASE
2: UNUSUALLY SKILFUL: VERSATILE ([PAR AUTORU, TALANTU] DAUDZPUSĒJS)
1: VIENĀDI IZVEICĪGS AR ABĀM ROKĀM
2: DIVKOSĪGS
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
BEING AMBIDEXTROUS GAVE STEVE A CONSIDERABLE ADVANTAGE IN SPORTS; HE WAS ONE OF THE BEST ALL-AROUND ATHLETES IN HIS HIGH SCHOOL.
DID YOU KNOW?
THE LATIN "DEXTER" ORIGINALLY MEANT "RELATED TO OR SITUATED ON THE RIGHT SIDE," BUT SINCE MOST PEOPLE DO THINGS BETTER WITH THE RIGHT HAND, "DEXTER" DEVELOPED THE SENSE OF "SKILFUL." IN 1646, ENGLISH PHYSICIAN AND AUTHOR SIR THOMAS BROWNE COMBINED "DEXTER" WITH THE LATIN PREFIX "AMBI-" (MEANING "BOTH") IN THE FIRST DOCUMENTED USE OF "AMBIDEXTROUS": "SOME ARE . . . AMBIDEXTROUS OR RIGHT-HANDED ON BOTH SIDES."
*INDICATES THE SENSE ILLUSTRATED IN THE EXAMPLE SENTENCE.
B
INDLE STIFF BIN-DUL-STIFF (NOUN)
: A TRANSIENT (USUALLY CARRYING A BUNDLE (AS OF CLOTHING OR BEDDING): AS A: A MIGRATORY WORKER B: TRAMP, HOBO ((AMER. SL) KLAIDONIS)
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
"THE SUMMER AFTER HIS FRESHMAN YEAR, HE WENT BUMMING ACROSS THE LAND AS A BINDLE STIFF . . . WORKING HARD WITH HIS BODY IN THE WHEAT HARVEST ON THE PLAINS AND LIVING ON PITTANCES." (JOHN HERSEY, THE NEW YORKER, JULY 18, 1988)
DID YOU KNOW?
IN THE ARGOT OF TRAMPS AND HOBOES, A ROLL OF CLOTHES AND BEDDING WAS CALLED A "BINDLE," A WORD THAT PROBABLY ORIGINATED AS A DIALECT VARIANT OF THE MORE FAMILIAR "BUNDLE." "STIFF" ITSELF CAN MEAN "HOBO" OR "MIGRANT WORKER"; IT TOOK ON THESE MEANINGS IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY. BY 1901, ANY TRAMP OR HOBO WHO HABITUALLY CARRIED SUCH A PACK WAS KNOWN AS A "BINDLE STIFF." IN AUSTRALIAN SLANG, SUCH A HOBO MIGHT BE CALLED A "SWAGMAN."
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