hands down
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (AU) (file)
'han(d)z-'daun
Etymology 1 edit
The origin of this colloquialism seems to have its roots in mid-19th century horseracing. When a horse jockey is nearing the finish line far ahead of the competition, "with victory certain", he could drop his hands, relaxing his hold on the reins, and "still win the race". By the late 19th century the phrase was being used in non-racing contexts to mean 'with no trouble at all.'[1]
Adverb edit
hands down (comparative more hands down, superlative most hands down)
- (idiomatic) without much effort; easily
- (idiomatic) by a large margin (in a game or contest)
- (idiomatic) without question; undoubtedly
- That is a rather difficult task, hands down.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hands, down.
Translations edit
without much effort, easily
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without question
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Etymology 2 edit
See hand down
Verb edit
- third-person singular simple present indicative of hand down