Handicap, subs. (colloquial).—An arrangement in racing, etc., by which every competitor is, or is supposed to be, brought on an equality so far as regards his chance of winning by an adjustment of the weights to be carried, the distance to be run, etc.: extra weight or distance being imposed in proportion to their supposed merits on those held better than the others. [A handicap is framed in accordance with the known performances of the competitors, and, in horse-racing, with regard to the age and sex of the entries. The term is derived from the old game of hand-in-cap, or handicap.] 1660. Pepys, Diary, 18 Sep. Here some of us fell to handycapp, a sport that I never knew before. 1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines xxi. The race carried so many penalties and allowances that it partook somewhat of the nature of a handicap. Verb (colloquial). 1. To adjust or proportion weights, starts, etc., in order to bring a number of competitors as nearly as possible to an equality. 1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, ch. lxviii. Pleasant and cheerful enough, when they’re handicapping the coat off your back, and your new tilbury for a spavined pony and a cotton umbrella; but regular devils if you come to cross them the least in life. 2. To make even or level; to equalise between. 3. To embarrass, burden, hinder, or impede in any way. 1883. Grenville-Murray, People I Have Met, 123. He was not handicapped by a title, so that the beautiful ethics of hereditary legislation had no claim on his attention. Handie-Dandie, subs. phr. (old).—Copulation. 1490–1554. David Lyndsay, Kitty’s Confessioun [Laing], i., 136. Ane plack I will gar Sandie, Gie the agane with Handie-Dandie. Handle, subs. (common).—1. The nose. For synonyms, see Conk. 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. The cove flashes a rare handle to his physog; the fellow has a large nose. 1887. Modern Society, 27 Aug., 864. A restless, intriguing, and busy old lady, with an immense handle to her face. 2. (colloquial).—A title. Fr., une queue, as Monsieur Sans-queue = Mr. Nobody. 1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, xxiii. She ... entertained us with stories of colonial governors and their ladies, mentioning no persons but those who had handles to their names, as the phrase is. 1857. Ducange Anglicus, Vulg. Tongue. Handle, n. Title. Oh, you want a handle to your name. 1871. London Figaro, 17 June, ‘The plaint of a poor Parson.’ Neither he nor his clerical neighbours—unless they belong to county families, or have handles to their names—have ever been invited by the Dean to partake of the hospitalities of the Deanery. 1886. J. S. Winter, Army Society, ch. ii. That’s the worst of having a handle to one’s name. 1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 16 Jan. Here’s the Honourable Tom Jones, and Lord Smith, and Viscount Brown—that’s them, with the handles knocked off their names.