dead hand

dead hand (countable and uncountable, plural dead hands)

1. A residual undesirable influence from the past.
   • 2021 July 14, Barry Doe, “Flexi Seasons undermined by complicated calculations”, in RAIL, number 935, page 54:

     I'll leave the very bad news to the end as it's outside the industry's control. Yes, the dead hand of the Department for Transport (DfT) still rules!

2. (card games) A hand that is dealt but not used during a card game.

• Dead Hand

• “dead hand”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “dead hand”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.