steady-handed

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Capable of smooth, sure movements.

   • Yet despite its good intentions, the IRL has attracted more untried, fuzz-faced young gunslingers-in-waiting than tight-jawed, steady-handed shootists, pulling in only two drivers who still fit the mold.
   • Uncle Tommy, the once steady-handed Gene Krupa of the Vernon Troubadours and the Palmer Orchestra, whose sticks never missed a snare or a cymbal, missed the bowl of meatballs on the table.
   • He was a steady-handed shooter with a heavy stick and the ability to back a ball up or make it spin left or right and position a queue ball behind the next shot to be taken–unique skills, even before Minnesota Fats.
2. 2

   Executed with smooth, sure movements.

   • It's hard if you work at it easy, and it's easy if you work hard at setting your sight on a specific marker at the end of the field and on steady-handed steering toward the marker.
   • The barber laughs so hard at the simple answer to the riddle that Logan fears for his chances of a steady-handed shave.
3. 3

   Consistent and reliable.

   • The final phase of Mexican League history was launched only after the sudden death of Jorge Pasquel in 1955; it consisted of steady-handed rebuilding of league fortunes under the capable direction of a new league management.
   • Foreign policy has to be dealt in a steady-handed and consistent manner.
   • The Conservative Party under Thatcher was famously steady-handed in targeting certain elements of the then-existing British labor market structure and complementing social programs.
4. ›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer

   1. 4

      In a steady-handed manner.

      • Yet he faced his foemen with dauntless courage, dashing in, springing back, sure-footed, steady-handed, with a point which seemed to menace three at once.
      • The boy caught it steady-handed and grinned wide. “Oh good hands, lad!
      • I moved beside her and was shocked, not by method, not by truth, for it was true, but by her ability to paint clear-eyed, steady-handed, and show this thing.

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