Dead-handed
adj, adv ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Mindless, plodding, or passive; stultifying
"No, it was stupid, dead-handed higher authority that made the army dead: absolutely fool-dead."
- 2 Red-handed; having clear evidence of guilt.
"Charlie blushed as if he had been caught in the act of dead-handed idiocy."
- 3 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."
- 4 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."
- 1 Red-handed, with clear evidence of guilt. not-comparable
"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..."
Example
More examples"No, it was stupid, dead-handed higher authority that made the army dead: absolutely fool-dead."
Etymology
From dead + handed.
Possibly a confusion or blend of red-handed with dead to rights
Related phrases
More for "dead-handed"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.