Antonyms for handicapping
| Grammar : Verb |
| Spell : han-dee-kap |
| Phonetic Transcription : ˈhæn diˌkæp |
Definition of handicapping
Origin :- 1650s, from hand in cap, a game whereby two bettors would engage a neutral umpire to determine the odds in an unequal contest. The bettors would put their hands holding forfeit money into a hat or cap. The umpire would announce the odds and the bettors would withdraw their hands -- hands full meaning that they accepted the odds and the bet was on, hands empty meaning they did not accept the bet and were willing to forfeit the money. If one forfeited, then the money went to the other. If both agreed either on forfeiting or going ahead with the wager, then the umpire kept the money as payment. The custom, though not the name, is attested from 14c. ("Piers Plowman").
- Reference to horse racing is 1754 (Handy-Cap Match), where the umpire decrees the superior horse should carry extra weight as a "handicap;" this led to sense of "encumbrance, disability" first recorded 1890. The main modern sense, "disability," is the last to develop, early 20c.
- verb give disadvantage
- The handicapping has none of the careful science of Newmarket.
- Extract from : « The Amazing Argentine » by John Foster Fraser
- Handicapping is only a way to get people to read what I really want to tell them.
- Extract from : « At the Post » by Horace Leonard Gold
- No one knew much about The Captain, and when it came to handicapping him there was a difficulty.
- Extract from : « Settling Day » by Nat Gould
- The horses are driven in two-wheeled "sulkies" of little weight, and the handicapping is exclusively by time-classes.
- Extract from : « The Land of Contrasts » by James Fullarton Muirhead
- A wet field aided the home team by handicapping Cumners speedy backfield.
- Extract from : « Center Rush Rowland » by Ralph Henry Barbour
- To the stag strong jungle and heavy brushwood were ever abhorrent, handicapping his light build and branching antlers.
- Extract from : « Unexplored Spain » by Abel Chapman
- Neither was hurt, but both were wet through, handicapping them for work on so cold a night.
- Extract from : « The Boy With the U. S. Life-Savers » by Francis Rolt-Wheeler
- This sort of handicapping would, I am sure, tend to equalize the number of entries for each class.
- Extract from : « Cats » by W. Gordon Stables
- They will be handicapped heavily enough as they go on in life, without our handicapping them in their first race.
- Extract from : « Town Geology » by Charles Kingsley
- It has a shrewd trick of grafting sorrows on our joys, and of handicapping success with discomfiting conditions.
- Extract from : « Frenzied Finance » by Thomas W. Lawson
Synonyms for handicapping
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019