panhandle

name

1. The Alaskan Panhandle.

noun

Etymology: From pan + handle.

1. The handle of a pan.
2. An area within a nation or subnational division that appears to stick out or project when viewed on a map; an especially elongated salient.
3. The handle that activates an ejector seat.

   “The Captain Keith Handscomb was the occupant of that ejector seat and the only survivor; his narrow escape was by just being able to reach the seat panhandle with his third and fourth fingers of his left hand.”

verb

Etymology: Probable back-formation from panhandler.

1. To beg for money, especially with a container in hand for receiving loose change, especially on the street, and particularly, as a homeless or vagrant person.

   “I had a white cane, but I never used it. Once, alone and lost in downtown Washington, I unfolded it, immediately sweating as I felt hundreds of eyes shift onto me. A man who was panhandling grabbed me and showed me the way home.”

2. To elicit; to attempt to obtain or provoke a certain response or answer.