noun
Only when written 手掛け / 手懸け / 手掛 / 手懸
Refers to a handle or grip on an object. Restricted to kanji forms containing 手掛/手懸.
引き出しの手掛けが取れてしまった。
The handle of the drawer came off.
noun
mistress; kept woman; concubine
Dated term for a mistress or concubine. Also written as 妾女. Compare with 妾 (めかけ).
See also: 妾 (めかけ)
昔の金持ちは手掛けを持つことがあった。
Wealthy people in the past sometimes kept a mistress.
More common reading for the mistress/concubine sense; てかけ is a dated variant.
Compound of 手 (hand) and 掛け (hanging, attaching). The handle sense is straightforward. The mistress sense is an extended meaning, possibly from the idea of someone kept at hand.