handbreadth

[ hand-bredth, -bretth ]

/ ˈhændˌbrɛdθ, -ˌbrɛtθ /

a unit of linear measure from 2½ to 4 inches (6.4 to 10 cm).

Also hand's·breadth

[handz-bredth, -bretth, -breth] /ˈhændzˌbrɛdθ, -ˌbrɛtθ, -ˌbrɛθ/.

Origin of handbreadth

First recorded in 1525–35; hand + breadth

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; my age before thee is as nothing; and every man at his best estate is vanity.

A Christian Directory (Part 2 of 4) |Richard Baxter
Some who carried war-clubs rushed forward and struck the post within a handbreadth of his head.

Running Fox |Elmer Russell Gregor
There was not a handbreadth of shade anywhere, and the iron handles and girds of the barred windows were nearly red-hot.

The Firebrand |S. R. Crockett
Rabbi Chanina saith the width of the wall (between Paradise and Gehenna) is a handbreadth.

Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala |Various

And he made for it a border of an handbreadth round about, and made a golden rim to the border thereof round about.

The Bible Story |Rev. Newton Marshall Hall

handbreadth

/ (ˈhændˌbrɛtθ, -ˌbrɛdθ) /

the width of a hand used as an indication of length