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Definition of Empty-handed
1. Adjective. Having acquired or gained nothing. "The returned from the negotiations empty-handed"
2. Adjective. Carrying nothing in the hands.
Definition of Empty-handed
1. Adjective. Having nothing to give. ¹
2. Adjective. Having given or received nothing. ¹
3. Adjective. (figuratively) Having failed in a task. ¹
4. Adjective. (context: of a style of martial arts such as karate) That revolves purely around unarmed, hand-to-hand combat, and uses no weapons. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Empty-handed
Literary usage of Empty-handed
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Matthew Paris's English History: From the Year 1235 to 1273 by Matthew Paris, John Allen Giles (1854)
"And as the wines brought for sale by the Gascons were seized on without any
payment, those who brought it returned empty-handed to their country, ..."
2. History of the German Struggle for Liberty by Poultney Bigelow (1896)
"XXV THE GERMAN ARMY GOES HOME empty-handed PROM PARIS "To be sure, the main
purpose had been achieved ; Napoleon had fallen. . . . But the ancient Germany ..."
3. Passages from My Autobiography by Morgan (Sydney) (1859)
"The courier has gone away empty-handed. Assuredly, I shall not send the translation.
Present my best compliments to Sir Charles. ..."
4. Lives of Indian Officers by John William Kaye (1889)
"pany's proteges were sent away as empty-handed as those who came from the King
and Queen. A consistent perseverance in a course of this kind, though at the ..."
5. With Rhodes in Mashonaland by David Christiaan de Waal (1896)
"... have to return empty-handed. NEXT we visited the Rothschild Mines lying at
the foot of a hill, and surrounded by dense mimosa trees. ..."
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