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 964384981, 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 3163777:

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

   • 1928, D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, Chapter 14, p. 219,

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

• (Judaism) tefach, tefah