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Handicap
Posted by Bruce Kahl on August 09, 2001
In Reply to: Handicap posted by Peter Maple on August 09, 2001
: I'm trying to find the Original meaning of the phrase, "cap
in hand" (or possibly hand in cap.
: People in the disability movement think the origin of handicap
is " cap in hand" ie begging and therefore derrogatory. Others say
its "cap in hand" as in horse racing where originally jockeys had
to hold their cap as a early "handicap". The Oxford Dictionary says,
possibly "hand in cap" was an early game - pulling tokens or cards
out of the hat - in a "sporting lottery"
: HELP!
Etymology: obsolete English handicap (a game in which forfeit money was held in a cap), from hand in cap
Handicap.
A game at cards not unlike loo, but with this difference:
the winner of one trick has to put in a double stake, the winner
of two tricks a triple stake, and so on. Thus: if six persons are
playing, and the general stake is 1s., and A gains three tricks,
he gains 6s., and has to "hand i' the cap" or pool 3s. for the next
deal. Suppose A gains two tricks and B one, then A gains 4s. and
B 2s., and A has to stake 3s. and B 2s. for the next deal.
E. Cobham Brewer 1810-1897. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898
