Dead-handed

Alternate forms

• deadhanded

dead + handed

Full definition of dead-handed

Adjective

1. Mindless, plodding, or passive; stultifying
• 1928 , D.H. Lawrence , Lady Chatterley's Lover , No, it was stupid, dead-handed higher authority that made the army dead: absolutely fool-dead.
• 1971 , Chester Bowles , Promises to keep: my years in public life, 1941-1969 , In contrast, Washington was like a cold bath on a January morning; we were quickly made aware of the dead-handed grasp of the bureaucracy, the unwillingness of all but a few top leaders to consider old problems in fresh terms
• 2013 , Sean Beaudoin , Wise Young Fool , There's a wash of noise I am somehow part of, dead-handed. The first song is pretty much over before I even realize we're playing.
2. (golf) Having very little wrist or hand action.
• 1984 , George Peper , Golf's Supershots: How the Pros Played Them - How You Can Play Them , Then simply hit a dead-handed chip, with the hands, wrists and arms all swinging together as if in a solid block.
3. Having limp or weak hands.
• 2012 , Bill Gaston , The World , My mother laughs from her grave, such are my sewing skills, but among these dead-handed men my wielding of a needle is nothing short of a miracle.

Possibly a confusion or blend of red-handed with dead to rights

Adjective

1. Red-handed; having clear evidence of guilt.
• 2014 , Emily Covington , Silver Follows , Charlie blushed as if he had been caught in the act of dead-handed idiocy.

Adverb

1. Red-handed, with clear evidence of guilt.
• 1978, ‎Sam Houston State University. Institute of Contemporary Corrections and the Behavioral Sciences. Interagency Workshop , Proceedings: Annual Interagency Workshop - Volume 6 , Your man is caught dead-handed. He has the gun in his hand, or the marijuana in the car, or the narcotics in his suitcase...