handstand

UK/ˈhændˌstænd/US/ˈhændˌstænd/

nounB1+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,489 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: handstands

A handstand is balancing upside down on your hands. Do a handstand, hold the handstand, a handstand against the wall.

The balance is made with the fingers rather than the whole hand, pressing and releasing constantly, which is why it takes months to learn. Against a wall is how everybody starts, and holding one free is a genuine athletic achievement.

Definitions of handstand

1nounhandstandBalancing upside down on your hands.B1+
“The girls practised handstands on the beach, their legs waving in the air.”

handstand is a balance.

Where it comes from

Hand plus stand, from the nineteenth-century gymnastics world.

From hand + stand.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Circus & Fairground

Practise this word

handstand in the wild

A handstand is the act of supporting the body in a stable, inverted vertical position by balancing on the hands.
Handstand
In a basic handstand, the body is held straight with arms and legs fully extended, with hands spaced approximately shoulder-width apart and the legs together.
Handstand
For a true handstand, the exercise is performed free-standing, held in the air.
Handstand push-up
Positions the top can perform in this style of acrobatics are straddles, handstands, pikes, press to handstand, one arm handstands, planches, flags, and many others.
Hand to hand acrobatics

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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