also barehanded, "with uncovered hands," mid-15c., from bare (adj.) + -handed.
Entries linking to bare-handed
bare adj.
Old English bær "naked, uncovered, unclothed," from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (source also of German bar, Old Norse berr, Dutch baar), from PIE *bhoso- "naked" (source also of Armenian bok "naked;" Old Church Slavonic bosu, Lithuanian basas "barefoot"). The meaning "sheer, absolute" (c. 1200) is from the notion of "complete in itself."
-handed
in compounds, "having hands" (of a certain type), mid-14c., from hand (n.). Related: -handedness; -handedly.