Dictionary

dead-handed en · ADJ · etymology 1

Etymology

From dead + handed.

Meanings

1. Mindless, plodding, or passive; stultifying
   • In contrast, Washington was like a cold bath on a January morning; we were quickly made aware of the dead-handed grasp of the bureaucracy, the unwillingness of all but a few top leaders to consider old problems in fresh terms 1971, Chester Bowles, Promises to keep: my years in public life, 1941-1969, page 377:
   • There's a wash of noise I am somehow part of, dead-handed. The first song is pretty much over before I even realize we're playing. 2013, Sean Beaudoin, Wise Young Fool, →ISBN:
   • No, it was stupid, dead-handed higher authority that made the army dead: absolutely fool-dead. 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC:
2. Having very little wrist or hand action.
   • Then simply hit a dead-handed chip, with the hands, wrists and arms all swinging together as if in a solid block. 1984, George Peper, Golf's Supershots: How the Pros Played Them - How You Can Play Them, →ISBN:
3. Having limp or weak hands.
   • My mother laughs from her grave, such are my sewing skills, but among these dead-handed men my wielding of a needle is nothing short of a miracle. 2012, Bill Gaston, The World, →ISBN:

Forms

Deriveds

dead-handedness

dead-handed en · ADJ · etymology 2

Etymology

Possibly a confusion or blend of red-handed with dead to rights

Meanings

1. Red-handed; having clear evidence of guilt.
   • Charlie blushed as if he had been caught in the act of dead-handed idiocy. 2014, Emily Covington, Silver Follows, →ISBN:

Forms

dead-handed en · ADV · etymology 2

Etymology

Possibly a confusion or blend of red-handed with dead to rights

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Red-handed, with clear evidence of guilt.
   • Your man is caught dead-handed. He has the gun in his hand, or the marijuana in the car, or the narcotics in his suitcase... 1978, Sam Houston State University. Institute of Contemporary Corrections and the Behavioral Sciences. Interagency Workshop, Proceedings: Annual Interagency Workshop - Volume 6, page 83:

Forms