by hand

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by hand

1. (idiomatic) Manually; without the use of automation or machines.

   The computers went down and they had to do all the bookkeeping by hand that day.

   • 2020 November 11, Veronica Stracqualursi, “Georgia to conduct full by-hand count of presidential race ballots, secretary of state says”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Georgia’s secretary of state announced Wednesday that the state will conduct an audit of the 2020 presidential race, recounting by hand the millions of ballots cast in the state, where President-elect Joe Biden is leading.
     “With the margin being so close, it will require a full by hand recount in each county,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said at a news conference in Atlanta. “This will help build confidence.”

   • 2025 July 27, Kathleen Magramo, “The game is almost over for one of Hong Kong’s last mahjong carvers”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     A full set costs $245 and takes around 10 to 14 days to make by hand.

2. (of raising a child) Without suckling it.

   to bring up an infant by hand

   • 1908, L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables:

     That left me an orphan and folks were at their wits’ end, so Mrs. Thomas said, what to do with me. [...] Finally Mrs. Thomas said she’d take me, though she was poor and had a drunken husband. She brought me up by hand. Do you know if there is anything in being brought up by hand that ought to make people who are brought up that way better than other people? Because whenever I was naughty Mrs. Thomas would ask me how I could be such a bad girl when she had brought me up by hand--reproachful-like.