out of hand

1. 1
   adjective

   No longer kept under control; having grown wild or unmanageable.

   The crowd grew rowdy, and within minutes the situation was out of hand.

   Spending on the project got out of hand long before anyone noticed.

   Similarunmanageable, uncontrollable, unruly, wild

   Oppositemanageable, controlled

   Note

   The sense with a story of decline built in: things are rarely out of hand from the start; they get out of hand. Get is its usual partner, and the phrase grades, as in more out of hand. It fits a mess or a budget, and people too: James Fitzmaurice-Kelly's Life of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1892) has troops that "got out of hand." Its reverse is in hand.

2. 2
   adverb

   Without giving something any further thought or consideration.

   The committee dismissed his proposal out of hand, refusing even to discuss it.

   You shouldn't reject criticism out of hand before weighing whether it's fair.

   Similaroffhand

   Note

   Mostly a verdict word: it attaches to verbs like dismiss, reject and decide, and it signals that the matter never got a proper hearing. It need not be harsh, though. A question answered out of hand is simply one easy enough to settle on the spot, with no second interview needed. Offhand can often stand in for it in this use.

3. 3
   adverbarchaic

   Immediately; at once; without any delay.

   Hearing the alarm, the soldiers armed themselves out of hand.

   The merchant, pleased with the terms, paid out of hand and sealed the bargain.

   Note

   An older, faster meaning: here the phrase is about time, not judgment. Spenser writes "out of hond" in The Faerie Queene (1590) for a proclamation made at once. A 1653 translation of Rabelais pairs it with "on a sudden." Today it belongs to period writing, and a modern reader will hear the "without a second thought" meaning instead. If you mean speed, write at once.

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