PANHANDLE

PANHANDLE. A panhandle, as the name implies, is a long, usually narrow, tract of land appended to the main area of a state. Many such areas exist in the United States. West Virginia's panhandle extends northward between Pennsylvania and Ohio. Oklahoma's panhandle, a long strip about twenty-five miles wide, lies between Texas on the south and Colorado and Kansas on the north. The Texas panhandle, a large, nearly square area, includes the northern portion of the state.

The term panhandle also applies to the portion of Idaho between Washington and Montana; the western extension of Nebraska north of Colorado; the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania along Lake Erie; and the long western extension of Florida.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rand McNally and Company. Atlas of American History. Chicago: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.

Erwin N.Griswold/c. w.

See alsoGeography .

pan·han·dle / ˈpanˌhandl/ • n. a narrow strip of territory projecting from the main territory of one state into another state.• v. [intr.] inf. beg in the street: she went back to the streets to panhandle for money.DERIVATIVES: pan·han·dler n.