Query: the expression "hands down"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Sam Clements wrote:
> OED, 1867.
> h. hands down: with ease, with little or no effort; unconditionally,
> submissively; orig. in the racing phr. to win hands down, referring to
> the
> jockey dropping his hands, and so relaxing his hold on the reins, when
> victory appears certain.
>
> Sam Clements
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Friday, March 21, 2008 9:57 PM
> Subject: Query: the expression "hands down"
>
>
>> Today a student asked me the origin of the expression "hands down,"
>> as in
>> "He won hands down," and I didn't have a good answer.  Would anyone
>> perhaps know what the original context might have been?  In what sort
>> of a
>> contest would one literally win "hands down"?
>>
>> Gerald Cohen

One can also win "in a walk" ... or "in a canter" ... or "in a walk,
hands down" ... or "in a canter, hands down": examples of the last:

[1862]

http://books.google.com/books?id=UDVKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA247&dq=%22canter+hands+down%22&lr=&as_brr=3

[1873]

http://books.google.com/books?id=RkUFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA230&dq=%22canter+hands+down%22&lr=&as_brr=3

[1881]

http://books.google.com/books?id=qwUCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA347&dq=%22canter+hands+down%22&lr=&as_brr=3

[1887]

http://books.google.com/books?id=TUIFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA43&dq=%22canter+hands+down%22&lr=&as_brr=3

The inept (IMHO) alternative "lose hands down" is more recent; there is
even the occasional "lose in a canter".

-- Doug Wilson

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