hands up

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Idioms and Phrases

A direction or order to hold one's hands high, as in Hands up or I'll shoot! This imperative is used by police officers and criminals so that they can see if someone is holding a weapon. [Second half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

People standing front of the vehicle, some holding a JSO banner, were seen holding their hands up, with one shouting to the police "officer, I'm being pushed back".

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Trump and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele threw their hands up over the idea of bringing Abrego Garcia back to the United States during a White House visit on Monday.

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Andrew Taylor, 55, threw his hands up in the air Monday morning as he walked out of the Social Security office on Wilshire Boulevard.

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YouTube footage shows him goading people into singing Reef's Put Your Hands Up, and taking selfies with fans during the encore.

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“I remember I just threw both hands up in the air like if I had just been boxing 12 rounds and it was the knockout I had been looking for.”

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

handstroke handsy

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