strong-handedadj.

1598 S. Gosson Trumpet of Warre sig. B^v The holie Prophets and Priestes of God haue had their times..to change their exhortations to mercie and compassion, into charges and allarmes, and either with Azariah incourage both the Prince and the people to bee strong handed.

?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xxi. 298 The fires strong-handed king, Gaue vertue of repulse.

1763 Crit. Rev. June 481 Strong-handed fate.

1787 T. Taylor tr. Mystical Initiations lxv. 197 Mighty Vulcan..Strong-handed [Gk. καρτερόχειρ], deathless, and of art divine, Pure element, a portion of the world is thine.

1814 M. L. Weems Life Gen. F. Marion (ed. 2) xvi. 143 Two fell beneath the steel of the strong-handed Snipes.

1853 N.-Y. Daily Times 26 July 4/3 Mr Daniels is a young and enthusiastic man, brimful of chivalry, and ready-hearted and strong-handed in every good cause.

1897 Scribner's Mag. Apr. 506/1 He was very strong-handed, fleet-footed, and able to make long marches.

1915 Times 29 Oct. 7/1 The strong-handed suppressor of organized labour troubles.

1949 I. Deutscher Stalin vi. 178 Stalin..secured a more impressive abode for his Commissariat through a strong-handed intervention in a somewhat comic scramble between the commissars for accommodation.

2012 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 5 Nov. b7 A strong-handed regulator is not necessarily in the best interest of users.

1801 A. Mackenzie Voy. from Montreal p. xvii,6 The..party got only in time to the Portage..to dispatch one canoe strong-handed, and light-loaded.

1827 J. F. Cooper Red Rover I. ii. 45 It is plain enough, by the manner in which his [sc. a captain's] sails are furled, that he is strong-handed.

1869 R. Semmes Mem. Service Afloat xxi. 282 The masters and mates of the captured ships offered their services..to assist in taking care of the ship. We thanked them, but were sufficiently strong-handed ourselves.

1911 H. Collingwood Overdue xx. 272 The schooner, evidently strong-handed,..had managed to creep up to within a short mile of us.

1981 J. Brown Let. 3 Jan. in J. Coughtry Notorious Triangle (1981) ii. 98 (modernized text) She is about 160 tons..and is strong handed, there being 16 people on board including the captain and merchant.

1817 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 21 Apr. Neither are they emigrants of the poorest class, but respectable farmers, and strong-handed, bringing with them their stock, teams, money, &c. &c.

1897 Ann. Rep. Dept. Agric. Ont., 1896 II. App. 152 Most farmers are strong-handed enough to plant 100 trees every spring.

1986 J. M. Faragher Sugar Creek 184 The best that most squatter families could manage was the sale of their ‘improvements’ to emigrants known as ‘strong-handed farmers’—men who arrived with capital enough to buy them out.