"dead hand" meaning in English

See dead hand in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: dead hands [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} dead hand (countable and uncountable, plural dead hands)
  1. A residual undesirable influence from the past. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-dead_hand-en-noun-atR1S0nt
  2. (card games) A hand that is dealt but not used during a card game. Tags: countable, uncountable Related terms: Dead Hand
    Sense id: en-dead_hand-en-noun-~RZcHFld Categories (other): Card games Topics: card-games, games
  3. (mahjong) A penalty where a player continues to take their turns, but can no longer win or make tile calls for the remainder of the hand. Tags: countable, uncountable Translations (penalty in mahjong): 停和 (tínghú) (Chinese Mandarin), 禁止和牌 (jìnzhǐ húpái) (Chinese Mandarin), dode hand (Dutch), main morte (French), 和了放棄 (Japanese), アガリ放棄 (Japanese), martwa ręka (Polish), мертвая рука (mertvaja ruka) (Russian), mano muerta (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-dead_hand-en-noun-KH5bZ44x Categories (other): Mahjong, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Japanese translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 13 30 57 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 15 30 55 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 7 35 58 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 6 34 60 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 17 30 52 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 15 30 55 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 14 31 55 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 27 26 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 19 30 51 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 14 31 55 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 11 29 60 Topics: board-games, games, mahjong Disambiguation of 'penalty in mahjong': 5 4 91

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead hands",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "dead hand (countable and uncountable, plural dead hands)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              89,
              98
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 July 14, Barry Doe, “Flexi Seasons undermined by complicated calculations”, in RAIL, number 935, page 54:",
          "text": "I'll leave the very bad news to the end as it's outside the industry's control. Yes, the dead hand of the Department for Transport (DfT) still rules!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A residual undesirable influence from the past."
      ],
      "id": "en-dead_hand-en-noun-atR1S0nt",
      "links": [
        [
          "residual",
          "residual"
        ],
        [
          "undesirable",
          "undesirable"
        ],
        [
          "influence",
          "influence"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Card games",
          "orig": "en:Card games",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hand that is dealt but not used during a card game."
      ],
      "id": "en-dead_hand-en-noun-~RZcHFld",
      "links": [
        [
          "card game",
          "card game"
        ],
        [
          "hand",
          "hand"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(card games) A hand that is dealt but not used during a card game."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 67 33",
          "word": "Dead Hand"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "card-games",
        "games"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Mahjong",
          "orig": "en:Mahjong",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 30 57",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 30 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "7 35 58",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "6 34 60",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 30 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 30 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 31 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 26 47",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 30 51",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 31 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 29 60",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A penalty where a player continues to take their turns, but can no longer win or make tile calls for the remainder of the hand."
      ],
      "id": "en-dead_hand-en-noun-KH5bZ44x",
      "links": [
        [
          "mahjong",
          "mahjong"
        ],
        [
          "penalty",
          "penalty"
        ],
        [
          "tile call",
          "tile call"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(mahjong) A penalty where a player continues to take their turns, but can no longer win or make tile calls for the remainder of the hand."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "board-games",
        "games",
        "mahjong"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "5 4 91",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "tínghú",
          "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
          "word": "停和"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 4 91",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "jìnzhǐ húpái",
          "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
          "word": "禁止和牌"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 4 91",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "lang_code": "nl",
          "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
          "word": "dode hand"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 4 91",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
          "word": "main morte"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 4 91",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "lang_code": "ja",
          "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
          "word": "和了放棄"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 4 91",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "lang_code": "ja",
          "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
          "word": "アガリ放棄"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 4 91",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
          "word": "martwa ręka"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 4 91",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "mertvaja ruka",
          "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
          "word": "мертвая рука"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 4 91",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
          "word": "mano muerta"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "dead hand"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Dutch translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Japanese translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead hands",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "dead hand (countable and uncountable, plural dead hands)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "Dead Hand"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              89,
              98
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 July 14, Barry Doe, “Flexi Seasons undermined by complicated calculations”, in RAIL, number 935, page 54:",
          "text": "I'll leave the very bad news to the end as it's outside the industry's control. Yes, the dead hand of the Department for Transport (DfT) still rules!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A residual undesirable influence from the past."
      ],
      "links": [
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      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
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      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Card games"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hand that is dealt but not used during a card game."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "card game",
          "card game"
        ],
        [
          "hand",
          "hand"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(card games) A hand that is dealt but not used during a card game."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "card-games",
        "games"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Mahjong"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A penalty where a player continues to take their turns, but can no longer win or make tile calls for the remainder of the hand."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "mahjong",
          "mahjong"
        ],
        [
          "penalty",
          "penalty"
        ],
        [
          "tile call",
          "tile call"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(mahjong) A penalty where a player continues to take their turns, but can no longer win or make tile calls for the remainder of the hand."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "board-games",
        "games",
        "mahjong"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "tínghú",
      "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
      "word": "停和"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "jìnzhǐ húpái",
      "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
      "word": "禁止和牌"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "lang_code": "nl",
      "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
      "word": "dode hand"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
      "word": "main morte"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "lang_code": "ja",
      "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
      "word": "和了放棄"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "lang_code": "ja",
      "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
      "word": "アガリ放棄"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
      "word": "martwa ręka"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "mertvaja ruka",
      "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
      "word": "мертвая рука"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "penalty in mahjong",
      "word": "mano muerta"
    }
  ],
  "word": "dead hand"
}

Download raw JSONL data for dead hand meaning in English (3.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.