out of hand

out of hand (comparative more out of hand, superlative most out of hand)

1. Without (further) thought or consideration.
   • 1948, University of Michigan Official Publication.‎, UM Libraries, page 175:

     The questions covered ranged from those that could be answered out of hand, through those requiring some thought and at least a second interview, to those which presented matters for further research in theoretical statistics.

   • 1954, Justice of the peace and local government review reports.‎:

     I still think that advice is sound, because, if justices do decide a case out of hand on the complainant's case, it is argued, as in the present appeal, that they have ruled, as a matter of law, that there was no case to answer.

2. (now rare) Immediately, forthwith, or incontinently.[1]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.xii:

     He bad to open wyde his brazen gate, / Which long time had bene shut, and out of hond / Proclaymed ioy and peace through all his state [...].

   • 1653, Francois Rabelais (tr. anon), The works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, doctor in physick‎, volume 2, Navarre society, London:

     Now any Man finding in hot Blood, one who with a fore-thought Felony hath murthered his Daughter, may, without tying himself to the Formalities and Circumstances of a Legal Proceeding, kill him on a sudden, and out of hand, without incurring any hazard of being attainted and apprehended by the Officers of Justice for so doing.

out of hand (comparative more out of hand, superlative most out of hand)

1. Not under control.

   Clean things as you go so that the mess does not get out of hand.

   • 1892, James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, The life of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra‎, London Chapman & Hall, published 1892:

     Figueiredo's troops got out of hand and disgraced themselves by mutilating the Spanish dead and wounded on the field of battle.