Getting the upper hand

Posted by ESC on June 10, 2000

In Reply to: The upper hand posted by ESC on June 03, 2000

: : : : Does anybody know the origin of this phrase. Does it have to do with 'hand' as in a 'hand of cards', or something else?

: : : I couldn't find this in my books. But I am guessing this is a baseball thing. Where they use a baseball bat ritual to see who gets to do what. The first person grabs the bottom of the bat, then the next person places his/her hand above the first. And so forth. Until the last person "gets the upper hand" at the top of the bat. Again, I must say I know nothing about sports. Sports fans?

: : ESC,
: : Is there any reference to just plain "the upper hand"?

: : I thought I found a reference that would well precede baseball or cards, being a quote from the Bible (Psalms 9.19) which reads "Rise, Lord; let not man have the upper hand;". However when I looked it up in another bible it said "Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail".

: : I guess in a 'hand to hand battle' as would be more common in biblical times, having your hand in the upper position with a sword or such would be the superior position.

: : Anybody else have any ideas on this?

: I looked under "hand" and "upper hand" and "get the upper hand". No luck. We'll have to come up with our own origin. I like your sword idea.

GETTING THE UPPER HAND - "It would seem on first thought that this expression derives from the way kids choose sides with a bat in sandlot baseball. Two players, usually the best two by general agreement, participate in the choosing. One puts a hand around the bat near the fat end, then the other puts a hand around the bat just above his hand. This goes on, hand over hand, until the bottom of the bat is reached and there is no room for another hand. The last hand on the bat wins the contest (although the loser does have the chance to delicately grasp with his fingertips whatever little wood is left and twist it around his head, winning if he can hold on to the bat while doing this three times). The winner, in any case, gets to choose first for the first player on his team and the picks are made in rotation thereafter. Perhaps this sandlot choosing popularized the expression 'getting the upper hand,' 'getting the best of someone,' but the phrase apparently was used long before the age of sandlot baseball. It probably derives from an English game of chance that has been traced back to the 15th century and was played in the same way as the sandlot choosing contest." From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

See also: the meaning and origin of 'get the upper hand'.