the whip hand

the whip hand

A position of advantage, power, and/or control (over someone, something, or some situation). The company effectively has a monopoly as an internet service provider in the country, giving them a whip hand when it comes to setting prices for consumers.
See also: hand, whip
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

the whip hand

a position of power or control over someone.
2004 Business Week Magazine By all appearances, Nielsen now has the whip hand in its struggle with News Corp.
See also: hand, whip
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • whipping
  • get the advantage of
  • get the advantage of (something)
  • advantage
  • have a monopoly on (something)
  • monopoly
  • advantage out
  • have the whip hand
  • advantage in
  • ad in
References in classic literature
Sheldon still held the whip hand, and he intended to keep it.
Cavendish, however, was a lady who liked to make her own plans, and expected other people to fall in with them, and in this case she certainly had the whip hand, namely: the purse strings.
They would certainly have the whip hand over us then.
The Bucks held the whip hand over a team that last season finished just outside of the play-offs in the league above, but were left to rue missed chances.
But with Napoli understood to also be interested in Tierney, the Hoops boss has made it clear it is his club who hold the whip hand in negotiations.
ST MIRREN appear to have the whip hand in the Premiership play-off final after a goalless first leg at Dundee United last night.
He won't like it, but it's a welcome reminder that he doesn't always have the whip hand.
In a letter to Ofcom chief executive Sharon White, Labour peer Lord Adonis called on the media regulator to "instruct the BBC to cancel its proposed broadcast tomorrow of Enoch Powell's infamous 1968 speech predicting 'rivers of blood' and 'the black man having the whip hand over the white man' because of immigration.
Fascinating Rock may just have the Whip hand on Ranger at the Curragh
OPINION He painted a paranoid vision of a country where the "black man will have the whip hand over the white man" and elderly white women are taunted by black children in the streets.
The Government is determined to give managers the whip hand in disputes.
The second period was very much a repeat of the first with Merthyr holding the whip hand, but Clevedon pulled a goal back on 61 minutes when a counterattack was finished off by Omari Sims.
Neither Manchester City nor Liverpool are able to make the same commitment but with Ajax prepared to blood him in the Eredivisie, they hold the whip hand.
that money has not yet been paid over from the ACE to the city so the ACE has actually got the whip hand over the City for that money."
As to the financing of the stadium, with Nama holding the whip hand my instincts are that the die is cast in favour of an instant-profit housing development.