bloody or red hand (heraldry)

The arms of Ulster, a sinister hand erect couped at the wrist gules, borne by baronets in a canton or inescutcheon

by hand

1. By use of the hands, or tools worked by the hand, not by machinery or other indirect means
2. By personal delivery, not by post

by the strong hand

By force

change hands

To pass to other ownership or keeping

come to hand

1. To arrive
2. To be received

come to one's hand

1. To be found easy
2. To come to close quarters

force someone's hand

To compel someone

for one's own hand

To one's own account

get one's hand in

1. To get control of the play so as to turn one's cards to good use
2. To get into the way or knack

good hands

1. A trustworthy source
2. Good keeping
3. Care of those who may be trusted to treat one well

hand and foot

1. Orig with respect to hands and feet
2. With assiduous attention

hand and (or in) glove

1. On very intimate terms
2. In close co-operation

hand down or on

To transmit in succession or by tradition

hand in hand

1. With hands mutually clasped
2. With one person holding the hand of another
3. In close association
4. Conjointly (handˈ-in-handˈ adjective)

hand it to someone (slang)

To admit someone's superiority, esp as shown by his or her success in a difficult matter

hand out

To distribute, pass by hand to individuals (see also handout above)

hand over

1. To transfer
2. To relinquish possession of

hand over fist

With steady and rapid gain

hand over hand

1. By passing the hands alternately one before or above another, as in climbing a rope or swimming with a certain stroke
2. Progressively
3. With steady and rapid gain

hand over head

Headlong

hands down

With utter ease (as in winning a race)

hands off

1. (as a command) keep off
2. Do not touch or strike

hands up

(as a command) hold the hands above the head in surrender

hand to hand

At close quarters (handˈ-to-handˈ adjective)

hand to mouth

With provision for immediate needs only (handˈ-to-mouthˈ adjective)

handwriting on the wall see under write

have one's hands full

To be preoccupied, very busy

hold hands see under hold¹

in hand

1. As present payment
2. In preparation
3. Under control
4. Of a ball that has to be played from balk (billiards)

keep one's hand in see under keep

lay hands on

1. To seize
2. To obtain or find
3. To subject physically to rough treatment
4. To bless, or to ordain by touching with the hand(s)
5. To place one's hands on, over or near an ill person in an act of spiritual healing (also lay on hands)

laying-on of hands

1. The touch of a bishop or presbyters in ordination
2. In spiritual healing, the action of placing hands on, over or near an ill person

lend a hand

To give assistance

lift a hand

(usu with a negative) to make the least effort (to help, etc)

off one's hands

No longer under one's responsible charge

old hand see under old

on all hands or on every hand

1. On all sides
2. By everybody

on hand

1. Ready, available
2. In one's possession

on one's hands

1. Under one's care or responsibility
2. Remaining as a burden or encumbrance

on the one hand … on the other hand…

Phrases used to introduce opposing points in an argument, etc

out of hand

1. At once, immediately, without premeditation
2. Out of control

poor hand

An unskilful person or way of handling (usu with at)

raise one's hand to

(often with a negative) to strike, behave violently towards

set or put one's hand to

1. To engage in, undertake
2. To sign

shake hands with see under shake

show of hands

A vote by holding up hands

show one's hand

To expose one's purpose

sit on one's hands

To take no action

slow handclap

Slow rhythmic clapping showing disapproval

stand one's hand (informal)

To buy a drink for someone else

take in hand

1. To undertake
2. To take charge of in order to educate, discipline, etc

take off someone's hands

To relieve someone of

the hand of God

Any unforeseen and unavoidable accident, such as lightning or a storm

throw in one's hand

1. To give up a venture or plan
2. To concede defeat

tie someone's hands

To render someone powerless

to (one's) hand

1. In readiness
2. Within easy reach
3. (of a letter) received

try one's hand at

1. To attempt
2. To test one's prowess at

under one's hand

With one's proper signature attached

upper hand

1. Mastery
2. Advantage

wash one's hands (of)

To disclaim responsibility (for) (Bible, Matthew 27.24)

red¹ /red/

adjective (reddˈer; reddˈest)

1. Of a colour like blood
2. Extended traditionally to mean golden, and by custom to other colours more or less near red
3. Having a red face (from shame, heat, embarrassment, etc; see also red face below)
4. (of the eyes) bloodshot or with red rims
5. Revolutionary, or supposedly revolutionary
6. Communist (derogatory informal)
7. (of a US state) tending to vote Republican

noun

1. The colour of blood
2. An object of this colour in a set of similar objects
3. A red pigment
4. Red clothes
5. Red wine
6. The red traffic-light, meaning ‘stop’
7. A revolutionary or person who favours sweeping changes, variously applied to radical, republican, anarchist, socialist, communist, etc
8. A former squadron of the British fleet
9. A red cent

reddˈen transitive verb

To make red

intransitive verb

1. To grow red
2. To blush

reddˈish adjective

reddˈishness noun

reddˈy adjective

redˈly adverb

redˈness noun

red admiral noun

A common butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) with reddish-banded wings

red alert noun

A state of readiness for imminent crisis, eg war or natural disaster

red algae plural noun

One of the great divisions of seaweeds, the Rhodophyceae or Florideae, containing a red pigment

red ant noun

Any of several reddish-coloured ants, esp the Pharaoh ant

redˈback noun (Aust)

A poisonous spider (Latrodectus hasselti), the female of which has a red strip on its back

red beds plural noun (geology)

Red sedimentary rocks, usu sandstones, silicates and shales

redˈbelly noun

1. The char, or other red-bellied fish
2. The slider, a terrapin

red biddy noun (informal)

A drink made of red wine and methylated spirit

redˈ-bloodˈed adjective

1. Having red blood
2. Abounding in vitality, and usually in crudity

redˈ-bloodˈedness noun

red book noun

A book bound in red, esp a court guide, peerage, directory of persons in the service of the state, official regulations, etc

red box noun

A government minister's red-covered box for official papers

redˈbreast noun

The robin

red brick noun

A brick, made from clay containing iron compounds that are converted into ferric oxide

redˈbrick adjective

Denoting an English university founded in the 19c or first half of the 20c, contrasted with Oxford and Cambridge

Red Brigade noun

Any of a group of left-wing terrorist groups in Italy

redˈbud noun

The American Judas tree (Cercis canadensis), producing heart-shaped leaves and pink bud-like flowers

red bush tea see rooibos tea

red cabbage noun

A purplish cabbage often used for pickling

redˈcap noun

1. A goldfinch
2. A Scottish castle goblin (also redˈ-cowl)
3. A military policeman (slang)
4. A railway porter (N American)

red card noun (football)

A red-coloured card that a referee holds up to show that he or she is sending a player off

redˈ-cardˈ transitive verb

red carpet noun

1. A strip of carpet put out for the highly favoured to walk on
2. Treatment as a very important person (figurative)

redˈ-carˈpet adjective (usu figurative)

red cedar noun

A name for various species of Cedrela and of juniper

red cell noun

A red corpuscle

red cent noun

1. A cent (formerly made of copper) considered as a very small amount (informal; esp N American)
2. A whit

red clay noun

1. A clayey deposit of oceanic abysses, stained reddish or brown by manganese and iron oxides
2. Cave-earth

redˈcoat noun

1. A British soldier (historical)
2. An entertainment organizer at a Butlins holiday camp, wearing a red blazer as uniform
3. A mountie (Can informal)

red cock noun (figurative)

An incendiary fire

red coral noun

Any of various corals of warm seas, esp Corallium nobile, the smooth pink skeleton of which is used in making jewellery

red corpuscle noun

An erythrocyte, a blood cell which carries oxygen in combination with the pigment haemoglobin, and removes carbon dioxide

Red Crag noun

A middle division of the English Pliocene

Red Crescent noun

The Red Cross Society in Islamic countries

Red Cross noun

1. A red cross on a white ground, the national flag of England (in Spenser's Redcross Knight, representing holiness and the Church of England)
2. The Swiss flag with colours reversed, the copyrighted symbol of an organization (known as the Red Cross) for tending sick, wounded in war, etc, enjoying privileges under the Convention of Geneva (1864)

Red Crystal noun

A diamond-shaped emblem used by the Red Cross Society as a politically and religiously neutral alternative to the Red Cross and Red Crescent

redcurrˈant noun

The small red berry of a shrub of the gooseberry genus

redˈcurrant adjective

red deer noun

The common stag or hind, reddish-brown in summer

Red Delicious noun

A red-skinned variety of eating apple

Red Devils plural noun

1. The display unit of the Parachute Regiment
2. The regiment itself (informal)

red diesel noun

Diesel fuel that is intended for use by agricultural vehicles only, and is therefore subject to a reduced rate of excise duty and is chemically marked and dyed red to identify it

red dog noun

A dhole

redˈ-dog noun

The lowest grade of flour in high milling

red dwarf noun

A red star of low luminosity

Red Ensign noun (also (slang) Red Duster)

A red flag with the Union Jack in the top left corner, until 1864 the flag of Red Squadron, now flown by British merchant ships

redˈ-eye noun

1. The rudd
2. Poor-quality whisky (US)
3. A drink of beer and tomato juice (Can slang)
4. A common fault in amateur flash photography which causes the pupils of the subject's eyes to appear red
5. An overnight aeroplane journey (N Am sl; also adjective)

red face noun

A blushing from embarrassment or disconcertion

redˈ-faced adjective

redˈ-figure or redˈ-figured adjective

Designating a style of ancient Greek pottery in which the background is painted with a fine clay solution which turns and remains black after firing in a reducing atmosphere (cf black-figure under black)

redˈfish noun

1. A male salmon when, or just after, spawning
2. Any of various red-fleshed fish, of the genus Sebastes

red flag noun

1. A flag used as a signal of danger, defiance, no mercy, or an auction sale
2. The banner of socialism or of revolution
3. (with caps) a socialist's song

red fox noun

A common fox, native to Europe, parts of Asia, N Africa and N America, having a reddish-brown coat and white underparts

red giant noun

A red star of high luminosity

red grouse noun

Another name for the common grouse

Red Guard noun

A member of a strict Maoist youth movement in China, esp active in the cultural revolution of the late 1960s

red gum noun

1. An eruption of the skin in teething infants
2. A Eucalyptus (of various kinds) with red gum
3. The hard red timber from this tree

redˈ-haired adjective

red hand noun

The bloody hand (see under hand)

redhandˈed adjective and adverb

In the very act, or immediately after, as if with bloody hands

red hat noun

1. A cardinal
2. A cardinal's hat (award of this to cardinals was discontinued in 1969)
3. A staff officer (milit sl)

redˈhead noun

1. A person with red hair
2. Any of several birds with reddish head, esp the pochard

redˈ-headed adjective

1. Having a red head or red hair
2. Angrily excited (slang)

red heat noun

The temperature at which something is red-hot

redˈ-heeled adjective

red herring noun

1. A herring cured and dried, of reddish appearance
2. A subject introduced to divert discussion or attention as a herring drawn across a track would throw hounds out

redˈ-hot adjective

1. Heated to redness
2. Extremely hot
3. Extreme
4. Marked by extreme emotion of any kind
5. (of information) very recently received (informal)
6. (of a telephone line) very busy with calls (informal)
7. (of the favourite in a sporting contest) considered almost certain to win

red-hot poker noun

The plant Kniphofia or Tritoma

Red Indian noun (informal; offensive)

A Native American, esp of N America (also adjective)

Red Lane see under lane¹

redˈ-lattˈice adjective (Shakespeare)

Savouring of the alehouse (whose lattice was conventionally painted red)

red lead noun

An oxide of lead (Pb₃O₄) of a fine red colour, used in paint-making (also called minium)

redˈleg noun (W Indies)

A derogatory term for a poor white person, esp a descendant of original white settlers

redˈ-legged adjective

redˈ-letter adjective

1. Marked with red letters, as holidays or saints' days in the old calendars
2. Deserving to be so marked, special

red light noun

1. A rear light
2. A danger-signal
3. The red traffic-light, meaning ‘stop’
4. A brothel (informal)

redˈ-lightˈ adjective (informal)

Of or relating to brothels, as in red-light district

red line noun

1. The centre line on an ice-hockey rink
2. On the agenda of a meeting, a line marked in red ink below a point on which one is not prepared to compromise
3. (also red-line issue) a point on which one is not prepared to compromise

redˈ-line transitive verb

1. To mark or cancel (a date, name, etc) by circling or scoring through with a red line
2. To subject to red-lining

redˈ-lining noun (informal; orig US)

The practice of refusing credit or insurance to all those living in an area considered to be a poor financial risk

redˈ-looked adjective (Shakespeare)

Having a red look

redˈ-madˈ adjective (Scot)

Stark mad

red man noun

1. A Native American (archaic)
2. Prob red mercuric sulphide (alchemy)

red meat noun

Dark-coloured meat, eg beef and lamb

red mist noun (informal)

A source of impaired judgement that is said to descend over a person during moments of extreme rage

red mud noun

A type of industrial waste resulting from alumina processing, consisting of silicon oxide, iron oxide, etc

red mullet see under mullet¹

redˈneck noun (derogatory)

1. A poor white farm labourer in SW USA
2. A poorly educated person with intolerant and reactionary opinions

adjective

1. Ignorant, intolerant, narrow-minded
2. Pertaining to, or characteristic of, poor white farm labourers

red panda noun

A panda with chestnut fur and white patches on its face, found in mountain forests in Asia

red pepper see under pepper

red pine noun

Any of various coniferous trees yielding reddish timber

redˈ-plague or redˈ-murrain noun (Shakespeare)

Bubonic plague

redˈpoll noun

1. A name for two birds (lesser and mealy redpoll) related to the linnet
2. An animal of a red breed of polled cattle

redˈ-polled adjective

1. Having a red poll
2. Red and polled

red rag noun

1. The tongue (slang)
2. A cause of infuriation (as red is said to be to a bull)

red rattle noun

Lousewort

red ribbon or red riband noun

The ribbon of the Order of the Bath

red river hog noun

A bush pig (qv under bush¹)

redˈroot noun

A genus (Ceanothus) of the buckthorn family, New Jersey tea

red rot noun

A disease of oaks, etc caused by Polyporus, the wood becoming brown and dry

red route noun

A system of traffic control in large cities, designated by red lines painted along the edge of the road where it is operational

red salmon noun

Any of various types of salmon with red flesh, esp the sockeye salmon

red sanders noun

A papilionaceous tree (Pterocarpus santalinus) of tropical Asia, with heavy dark-red heartwood, used as a dye, etc (see also sandal²)

redsear, redshare, redshire see redshort

red seaweed noun

Any of the red algae, esp one of the genus Polysiphonia

red seed noun

The food of mackerel, small floating crustaceans, etc

red setter noun

An Irish setter

redˈshank noun

1. A sandpiper with red legs
2. A Highlander or an Irishman (informal; derogatory)
3. (red shank) a polygonaceous annual plant with a red stem

red shift noun

A shift of lines in the spectrum towards the red, considered to occur because the source of light is receding (see Doppler principle, etc)

redˈ-shifted adjective

Red Shirt noun (historical)

1. A follower of Garibaldi (1807–82), from his garb
2. A revolutionary or anarchist

redˈshirt noun

(in American collegiate sport) a player who is not selected for a representative team for one year in order to prolong his or her period of eligibility

transitive verb and intransitive verb

To designate or be designated as a redshirt

redˈskin noun (derog sl; offensive)

A Native American

red snapper noun

A fish of the Lutjanidae with reddish colouring, common off the east coast of America

red snow noun

Snow coloured by a microscopic red alga

red spider or red spider mite noun

A spinning mite that infests leaves

red squirrel noun

1. A squirrel of reddish-brown colour (Sciurus vulgaris) native to Europe and Asia, in Britain now rarely found outside the Scottish Highlands
2. A small squirrel (Sciurus hudsonicus) of N America

redˈstart noun

1. (OE steort tail) a European bird (Ruticilla or Phoenicurus) with a conspicuous chestnut-coloured tail
2. An American warbler, superficially similar

redˈstreak noun

An apple with streaked skin

red tape noun

1. The tape used in government offices to bind official documents, etc
2. Rigid formality of intricate official routine
3. Bureaucracy

redˈ-tape adjective

red-tapˈism noun

red-tapˈist noun

red tide noun

A bloom of red dinoflagellates which colours the sea, etc red

redˈtop noun (US)

A kind of bent grass (Agrostis stolonifera)

redˈ-top noun

Any tabloid newspaper whose masthead is printed in red, noted esp for sensationalism and prurience (also adjective)

redˈwater noun

A cattle disease due to a protozoan parasite in the blood, that is transmitted by ticks and destroys the red blood cells, causing red-coloured urine to be passed (also called babesiasis or babesiosis)

red wine noun

Wine coloured by (red) grape skins during fermentation (cf rosé)

redˈwing noun

A thrush with reddish sides below the wings

redˈwood noun

1. A species of Sequoia with reddish wood much used commercially
2. Any wood or tree yielding a red dye

red-woodˈ or (Scot) red-wudˈ adjective

Stark mad

in the red

Overdrawn at the bank, in debt

red out

To experience a red hazy field of vision, etc as a result of aerobatics

reds under the bed(s)

The supposed influence of communist infiltrators, esp during the Cold War

Royal Red Cross

A decoration for nurses, instituted 1883

see red

1. To grow furious
2. To thirst for blood

the Red Planet

Mars