HANDSHAKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does handshake mean? 

• HANDSHAKE (noun)
  The noun HANDSHAKE has 1 sense:

1. grasping and shaking a person's hand (as to acknowledge an introduction or to agree on a contract)

  Familiarity information: HANDSHAKE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HANDSHAKE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Grasping and shaking a person's hand (as to acknowledge an introduction or to agree on a contract)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

handclasp; handshake; handshaking; shake

Hypernyms ("handshake" is a kind of...):

acknowledgement; acknowledgment (a statement acknowledging something or someone)

Domain category:

contract (a binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law)

Derivation:

shake hands (take someone's hands and shake them as a gesture of greeting or congratulation)

 Context examples 

It is of the helix-loop-helix type and is involved in protein-protein interactions via a "handshake" motif with a histone fold partner.

(Histone Fold, NCI Thesaurus)

You can talk, but put off the official handshake or signing.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I'd rather have a hearty English handshake than all the sentimental salutations in France.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He had himself climbed up behind, and I, after a hearty handshake from my father, and a last sobbing embrace from my mother, took my place beside my uncle in the front.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The strength of the handshake was so much akin to that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not seen, that for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was speaking; so to make sure, I said interrogatively:— "Count Dracula?"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"Goodbye, dear," and with these words, uttered in the tone she liked, Laurie left her, after a handshake almost painful in its heartiness.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)