dead-handed

See also: deadhanded

English

Alternative forms

• deadhanded

Etymology 1

dead +‎ handed

Adjective

dead-handed (comparative more dead-handed, superlative most dead-handed)

1. Mindless, plodding, or passive; stultifying
   • 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, authorized British edition, London: Martin Secker […], published February 1932 (May 1932 printing), →OCLC:

     No, it was stupid, dead-handed higher authority that made the army dead: absolutely fool-dead.

   • 1971, Chester Bowles, Promises to keep: my years in public life, 1941-1969, page 377:

     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

   • 2013, Sean Beaudoin, Wise Young Fool, →ISBN:

     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.

2. (golf) Having very little wrist or hand action.
   • 1984, George Peper, Golf's Supershots: How the Pros Played Them - How You Can Play Them, →ISBN:

     Then simply hit a dead-handed chip, with the hands, wrists and arms all swinging together as if in a solid block.

3. Having limp or weak hands.
   • 2012, Bill Gaston, The World, →ISBN:

     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.

Etymology 2

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

Adjective

dead-handed (comparative more dead-handed, superlative most dead-handed)

1. Red-handed; having clear evidence of guilt.
   • 2014, Emily Covington, Silver Follows, →ISBN:

     Charlie blushed as if he had been caught in the act of dead-handed idiocy.

Adverb

dead-handed (not comparable)

1. Red-handed, with clear evidence of guilt.
   • 1978, Sam Houston State University. Institute of Contemporary Corrections and the Behavioral Sciences. Interagency Workshop, Proceedings: Annual Interagency Workshop - Volume 6, page 83:

     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...