Rate this phrase:3.0 / 1 vote

hands down

Without question.

Etymology:

  • 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.'"
9 Views
Collection   Edit    

Submitted on September 01, 2009

Additional definitions for 'hands down':

hands downWithout much effort; easily.
See them all »

Translation

Find a translation for the hands down phrase in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to hands down

go down the toilethunker downhose downhail downhose downhold downgo down the roadhaul downHands are Tiedhold downhunker downhold it down like a million poundshigh five. down low. too slow.hand down

How to pronounce this phrase?

Discuss this hands down phrase with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this hands down definition to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "hands down." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/hands-down_4253>.

    Powered by CITE.ME Cite.Me

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest human-edited phrases collection on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a phrases master?

    »
    Of course it's true, I heard it straight from the ______'s mouth.
    A horse
    B cat
    C rabbit
    D hare

    Browse Phrases.com

    #ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ