handiwork

[han-dee-wurk] /ˈhæn diˌwɜrk/
noun
1.
work done by hand.
2.
the characteristic quality of a particular doer or maker:
In all of Mozart's music we discover the handiwork of a genius.
3.
the result of work done by hand:
woven mats and other handiwork.
Origin
before 1000; Middle English handiwerk, Old English handgeweorc, variant of handweorc (cognate with German Handwerk). See hand, y-, work
Examples from the web for handiwork
  • Then he polished them so that the purity and grace of nature's handiwork could shine through.
  • Yet they were the handiwork of the same genes that build our own eyes, and they relied on the same light-sensing opsins.
  • The painting was done with a palette knife-its thick, crude slabs of paint suggesting the handiwork of a mason or plasterer.
  • Some of the earliest traces of mankinds handiwork are in those isles.
  • But his handiwork nevertheless caused a storm when it was broadcast on local television.
  • The budget package, by contrast, is largely her handiwork.
  • Walking around this exhibition, you encounter the ancestry of that handiwork.
  • Nature was his handiwork, and presumably it reflected his thoughts.
  • But then you will be able to see them and their handiwork everywhere.
  • Once they engineer a microbe, they start to lose control of their handiwork.
British Dictionary definitions for handiwork

handiwork

/ˈhændɪˌwɜːk/
noun
1.
work performed or produced by hand, such as embroidery or pottery
2.
the result of the action or endeavours of a person or thing
Word Origin
Old English handgeweorc, from hand + geweorc, from ge- (collective prefix) + weorcwork
Word Origin and History for handiwork
n.

late 12c., from Old English handgeweorc, from hand (n.) + geweorc, collective form of weorc "work" (see work). Old English ge- regularly reduces to i- in Middle English, and the word probably came to be felt as handy + work.