handshake

Etymology

It is formed from English hand + shake, both nouns.^[2][3][4] The Shorter Oxford takes the rare verb from the noun hand and the verb shake.^[5] The phrase shake hands is older, from the 16th century, and handshaking is recorded from 1805.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An act of shaking a person's hand: the OED's first record is in the Monthly Magazine of January 1802.^[2][6] Etymonline gives 1801,^[3] while Dictionary.com and the Shorter Oxford date the word to the late 19th century.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The handshake as a sign of greeting, farewell or agreement gave the word its first sense.^[2] From 1958 a handshake was also a gift of money from an employer to someone retiring or being made redundant,^[2] and the golden handshake, a large severance payment, appears in a Times headline in 1959.^[2] In computing, from 1966, it names the exchange of standard signals by which two devices set up and regulate a transfer of data, a figurative use of the greeting.^[2][5] The verb, to shake hands, is recorded from 1878,^[2] and in American slang from 1918, especially among soldiers, handshaking meant currying favour.^[7]

Timeline

• 1802 – an act of shaking hands in greeting, farewell or agreement, in the Monthly Magazine.^[2][6] Etymonline dates it to 1801.^[3]
• 1805 – handshaking.^[3]
• 1878 – verb, to shake hands.^[2]
• 1918 – US slang verb, to curry favour.^[7]
• 1920 – verb, to shake hands with someone.^[2]
• 1958 – a gift of money from an employer on retirement or redundancy.^[2]
• 1959 – golden handshake, in a Times headline.^[2]
• 1966 – in computing, an exchange of standard signals that regulates the transfer of data.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of grasping and shaking another person's hand, as a greeting or farewell or to seal an agreement: The two managers closed the deal with a handshake.^[8][6][2]
2. A payment given by an employer to a person who is leaving a job, especially in golden handshake.^[2][8][6]
3. (computing) An exchange of standard signals between two devices that sets up and regulates the transfer of data.^[2][5]

Verb

1. To shake hands, or to shake hands with someone.^[2][5]
2. (US, slang) To curry favour.^[7]

Word family

• golden handshake
• handshaking
• handshaker

Related words

• hand
• shake

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins