dead hand

See also: Dead Hand

English

Noun

dead hand (countable and uncountable, plural dead hands)

1. A residual undesirable influence from the past.
   • 2021 July 14, Barry Doe, “Flexi Seasons undermined by complicated calculations”, in RAIL, number 935, page 54:

     I'll leave the very bad news to the end as it's outside the industry's control. Yes, the dead hand of the Department for Transport (DfT) still rules!

2. (card games) A hand that is dealt but not used during a card game.
3. (mahjong) A penalty where a player continues to take their turns, but can no longer win or make tile calls for the remainder of the hand.

Translations

penalty in mahjong

Chinese: Mandarin: 停和 (tínghú), 禁止和牌 (jìnzhǐ húpái) Dutch: dode hand French: main morte Japanese: 和了放棄, アガリ放棄 Polish: martwa ręka Russian: мертвая рука (mertvaja ruka) Spanish: mano muerta

See also

• Dead Hand

References

• “dead hand”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “dead hand”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.