dead hand

Questions about dead hand

What does dead hand mean?

dead hand means "real property held inalienably (as by an ecclesiastical corporation)". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for dead hand?

Close synonyms include mortmain, dead hand of the past, mortmain. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is dead hand a common word?

dead hand is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.