Meanings of phrases

Posted by Bruce Kahl on February 07, 2002

In Reply to: Meanings of phrases posted by I****a Mehta on February 07, 2002

: all thumbs
If someone says you are all thumbs they mean you have no mechanical ability.

: hat in hand
Hat in hand refers to someone asking or begging for something as in "I come hat in hand looking for help".

: twiddling your thumbs
If you have nothing to do while waiting for something you might try twiddling or moving your thumbs in a circular motion to help pass the time.

: hanging by one's fingurenails
If payday is Friday and you have ten dollars in your pocket then you must hang by your fingernails till you cash your paycheck.

: hand in hand
Bill Gates might say that the Windows operating system goes hand in hand with the Pentium processor. Hand in hand means that 2 things work well with each other.

: by hand
A carpenter made a piece of furniture entirely by hand. To do something by hand means not to use a tool.

: hands down
If you really know a lot about something you are described as knowing that something hands down.
Someone who is an expert at something is said to know that subject hands down.

: all hands on deck
All hands on deck is a sailing term and the hands are the crewmembers of that ship.
The captain will ask that all hands be on deck to scrub and clean the ship.

• By hand R. Berg 02/07/02