with your bare hands
with (one's) bare hands
Using only one's hands. The term typically means without tools, etc., but can also mean without the machinery that would normally be expected to be used in the task being discussed. We had no shovel so we dug the hole with our bare hands. Can you believe she sanded all that wood with her bare hands, using only sandpaper?
See also: bare, hand
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
with your bare hands
COMMON If you do something with your bare hands, you do it without using any weapons or tools. If I thought you'd hurt him, I'd kill you now with my bare hands. Rescue workers and residents were digging through tonnes of mud with their bare hands yesterday in search of survivors. Note: You can also say that someone does something bare-handed. A man has wrestled a two-metre crocodile bare-handed in a north Queensland river to save his pet dog from its jaws. Note: This expression is used to emphasize that the thing done is difficult or dangerous.
See also: bare, hand
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
with your bare ˈhands
with your hands only, without any tools or weapons: He said he’d killed a crocodile with his bare hands!See also: bare, hand
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
- bare hands, with one's
- with (one's) bare hands
- within (one's) means
- make do
- from the stretch
- without a second thought
- leave (one) to (one's) own devices
- leave somebody to their own devices
- leave someone to their own devices
- leave to own devices