red-handed en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From red + handed, likening to a murderer with their hands red with the victim's blood. The phrase to be taken with red hand originally meant "to be caught in the act". The use of red hand in this sense dates back to at least the 15th century in medieval Scotland and Scots law. Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1819) contains the first recorded use of taken red-handed for someone apprehended in the act of committing a crime. The expression subsequently became more common as caught red-handed.
Meanings
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(idiomatic) Showing clear evidence of guilt; in the act of wrongdoing.
Your husband is having sex with other women -- that's perfectly clear. Sometimes when cheaters are nabbed red-handed they react with anger, they "rage" in an attempt to make the person who caught 'em feel like they did something wrong.
2003 August, Pamela Paul, “Dear Reader, Get a Life.”, in Psychology Today, volume 36, number 4, page 56:Caught, red-handed, on the spot, in the very act of aiding and abetting the traitors against the Republic of France, the Englishman could claim no protection from his own country.
1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], The Scarlet Pimpernel, popular edition, London: Greening & Co., published 20 March 1912, →OCLC:Made sense she'd be nervous, right? Made sense that she'd jump like a red-handed pickpocket when her friend Danielle, whom she'd thought had zonked out the minute she'd buckled her seat belt ten minutes ago, threw out such an intimate topic of conversation.
2003, Julie Elizabeth Leto, Up to no good, Toronto; New York: Harlequin:Railway police are making a full investigation into the matter, and the headmasters of schools have been approached, but it is difficult in such cases to discover the culprits, unless they are caught red-handed.
1960 May 14, “Wanton Damage in Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 300:to catch red-handed
Another Southerner argued that "commerce has no social illusions" and that it would be commerce that would rid the region of "this historic, red-handed, deformed, and swaggering villain."
1991 October, Edward L. Ayers, “Legacy of violence”, in American Heritage, volume 42, number 6, page 102:
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Deadly, bloody.
He sees in Conan a red-handed, rough-footed barbarian who came out of the north to plunder a civilized land.
2014, Robert E. Howard, The Phoenix on the Sword, →ISBN:I grew to manhood listening to Greeks and Persians plotting various plots in my master's house, and one night all the plots burst forth into ugly blossoms and bore the fruit of red-handed war, and the Greek cities of Ionia revolted against the Persian overlords.
2014, Christian Cameron, The Great King, →ISBN:The demon of fire followed close upon the heels of the unseen fiend of the earth's hidden caverns, and ran red-handed through the metropolis of the West, kindling a thousand unhurt buildings, while the horror-stricken people stood aghast in terror, as helpless to combat this new enemy as they were to check the ravages of the earthquake itself.
2013, The San Francisco Calamity by Earthquake and Fire, →ISBN:
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(informal) With hands that are red from blood.
A red-handed cleaning lady slopped a wet, ragged mop.
2014, Rosa Liksom, Compartment - Issue 6, →ISBN:The blisters had wept blood for a while, leaving him literally red-handed for the rest of the night.
2008, Trevor Baxendale, Doctor Who: Wishing Well, →ISBN, page 67:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most red-handed | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more red-handed | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
pink-handed · bang to rights · caught with one's hand in the cookie jar · wrongdoing · in flagrante delicto
Synonyms
Translations (45)
fr la main dans le sac (in the act of wrongdoing) · da på fersk gerning (in the act of wrongdoing) · th คาหนังคาเขา (in the act of wrongdoing) · de in flagranti (ertappt) (in the act of wrongdoing) · eo ĉe krimo (in the act of wrongdoing) · pt em flagrante (in the act of wrongdoing) · tr suçüstü (in the act of wrongdoing) · cmn 雙手沾滿鮮血 /双手沾满鲜血 (in the act of wrongdoing) · la in flagrante delicto (in the act of wrongdoing) · cmn 正著 (in the act of wrongdoing) · nl op heterdaad (betrapt) (in the act of wrongdoing) · eo en loko de krimo (in the act of wrongdoing) · cmn 當場 /当场 (in the act of wrongdoing) · de auf frischer Tat (ertappt) (in the act of wrongdoing) · cmn 正在作案 (in the act of wrongdoing) · tr meşhut suç (in the act of wrongdoing) · th จะจะ (in the act of wrongdoing) · cmn 正着 (in the act of wrongdoing) · ru на ме́сте преступле́ния (in the act of wrongdoing) · tr cürmü meşhut (in the act of wrongdoing) · kmr li ser sûc girtin (in the act of wrongdoing) · it in flagranza (in the act of wrongdoing) · ar جُرْم مَشْهُود (in the act of wrongdoing) · cs při činu (in the act of wrongdoing) · pt com a mão na massa (in the act of wrongdoing) · nb på fersken (in the act of wrongdoing) · nn på fersk gjerning (in the act of wrongdoing) · ru с поли́чным (in the act of wrongdoing) · ja 現行犯 (in the act of wrongdoing) · fi rysän päältä (in the act of wrongdoing) · de bei der Tat (in the act of wrongdoing) · pl na gorącym uczynku (in the act of wrongdoing) · sv med fingrarna i syltburken (in the act of wrongdoing) · bg на местопрестъплението (in the act of wrongdoing) · pt com a boca na botija (in the act of wrongdoing) · nb på fersk gjerning (in the act of wrongdoing) · nn på fersken (in the act of wrongdoing) · sv på bar gärning (in the act of wrongdoing) · fr en flagrant délit (in the act of wrongdoing) · cmn 現行犯 /现行犯 (in the act of wrongdoing) · it con le mani nel sacco (in the act of wrongdoing) · ko 현행범 (in the act of wrongdoing) · kmr di ser de girtin (in the act of wrongdoing) · ar مُتَلَبَّس (in the act of wrongdoing) · ro cu mâna în sac (in the act of wrongdoing)