out of hand

[Jonathan Lighter]

The question has arisen elsewhere of whether this rather old-fashioned idiom
means merely  "At once, immediately, straight off; without premeditation,
suddenly; extempore," as OED has it. or whether it has narrowed in curremt
usage to "hastily; without sufficient deliberation."

Thoughts?

JL



"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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