butterfingered

adj

1. Prone to dropping things; clumsy.

   “[S]hee [a housewife] muſt be cleanly both in body and garments, ſhe muſt haue a quicke eye, a curious noſe, a perfect taſte and a ready care (ſhe muſt not be butter fingered, ſweet-toothed, nor faint hearted); for, the firſt will let euery thing fall, the ſecond will conſume what it ſhould increaſe, and the laſt will looſe time with too much niceneſſe.”

   “There are few who are ignorant of the circumstance which occurred at the execution of [Arthur] Thistlewood and his fellow conspirators for treason. A thrill of horror ran through the crowd when the first head was severed from its body, but so rapidly did the spectators become accustomed to the sight that on the executioner accidentally letting the third head drop, there was a shout of 'Ah! butter[-]fingered!'”

   “[I]t is always a matter of annoyance to the whole field when one of the party fails in a fair catch, or performs it in a bungling or "butter[-]fingered" style.”

   “Youd better go and slam that bag, too, down on Miss Raina's ice pudding! [This is too much for Nicola. The bag drops from his hand.] Begone, you butter[-]fingered donkey.”

   “Of course, one requires to be a little gifted that way and not to be butter-fingered, but what is chiefly necessary is patience and daily practice for long, long years.”