ambidextrous

From Medieval Latin ambidexter +‎ -ous, the former from ambi- (“both”) + dexter (“right”), thus literally “both hands being like a right hand”.

The Latin word is first attested in the Vetus Latina, calquing Ancient Greek ἀμφοτεροδέξιος (amphoterodéxios) in Judges 3:15 after the Septuagint, itself translating Hebrew אִטֵּר יַד יְמִינוֹ (iṭṭēr yaḏ yəmīnō, literally “bound in his right hand”). This phrase is now generally translated as “left-handed”; the Septuagint translation is either from a variant reading or from a different interpretation.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌæm.biˈdɛk.stɹəs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌæm.bɪˈdɛk.stɹəs/
• Rhymes: -ɛkstɹəs
• Hyphenation: am‧bi‧dex‧trous

ambidextrous (comparative more ambidextrous, superlative most ambidextrous)

1. Having equal ability in both hands; in particular, able to write equally well with both hands.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:  Together with Some Marginall Observations, and a Table Alphabeticall at the End.">…], 2nd edition, London: A Miller, for Edw Dod and Nath Ekins, , →OCLC:

     Some are ambidextrous or right-handed on both sides; which happeneth only unto strong and athletical bodies, whose heat and spirits are able to afford an ability unto both.

2. Equally usable by left-handed and right-handed people (as a tool or instrument).
3. (archaic) Practising or siding with both parties.
   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: , London: R Sare,  Took, M Gillyflower, A & J Churchil, and J Hindmarsh.">…], →OCLC:

     All False, Shuffling, and Ambidextrous Dealings.

4. (humorous) Of a person, bisexual.
5. Exceptionally skillful; adept in more than one medium, genre, style, etc.

   Michelangelo was a very ambidextrous artist, producing sculptures and frescoes with equal ability.

   • 1884, The British Trade Journal and Export World, page 558:

     For years, by every possible device, we have been raising the prices of our agricultural products against the foreign buyers by every device known to the ambidextrous tradesman and financier. The result is that we have raised up other and unexpected competitors in the markets of the world.

   • 1998, Alan Spiegel, James Agee and the Legend of Himself: A Critical Study, University of Missouri Press, →ISBN, page 12:

     In a footnote, these admirers will often bemoan Agee as a Renaissance or at least ambidextrous artist in an age of specialization, a vast and turbulent ocean syphoned off through a garden hose; not just a novelist manque but also a frustrated

   • 2014, Pamela Lillian Valemont, Beauty Queen Murder - Allison Baden-Clay, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 49:

     He also played the piano and violin, was an ambidextrous artist, and enjoyed acting. Holidays were spent yachting or canoeing or with his brothers. By 1903, Baden-Powell's military training manual, Aids to Scouting, had become a best-seller,

• both-handed, either-handed

• ambilevous, ambisinistrous

• handedness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia