dead hand

Fetched 2026-10-26 (cache).

Synonyms: dead pan, deadland, glad hand, dead end, dab hand, dead man, dead stand, deadhang, red hand, dead head, deck hand

Antonyms: dead pan, deadland, glad hand, dead end, dab hand, dead man, dead stand, deadhang, red hand, dead head, deck hand

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Noun

1. A [[residual]] [[undesirable]] [[influence]] from the past.
2. {{lb|en|card games}} A [[hand]] that is dealt but not used during a [[card game]].
3. {{lb|en|mahjong}} A [[penalty]] where a player continues to take their turns, but can no longer win or make [[tile call]]s for the remainder of the [[hand#English: card games|hand]].

Proper noun

1. {{senseid|en|Q907393}} A weapons [[system]], implemented by the [[Soviet Union]] and by the [[Russian Federation]] as the successor state thereof, capable of closing a strategic nuclear strike control loop in the absence of normal [[command and control]] channels, analogous in concept to a [[dead man's switch]], in anticipation of a [[decapitation strike]].
2. {{senseid|en|Q907393 or foreign counterpart}} Any such system, whether the cardinal instance (the Soviet/Russian one) or another.

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wiktionary dump) · cached copy, not a rewrite.