red-handed

Meaning

1. (idiomatic) Showing clear evidence of guilt; in the act of wrongdoing.
2. Deadly, bloody.
3. (informal) With hands that are red from blood.

Synonyms

bloodstained

caught in the act

in flagrante delicto

in the act

Translations

en flagrant délit

em flagrante

auf frischer Tat

in fraganti

op heterdaad

in flagrante delicto

com a boca na butija

en flagrante

متلبس بالجريمة

en flagrancia

in flagranti

sul fatto

in flagranza

li ser sûc girtin

Etymology

From red + handed, likening to a murderer with their hands red with the victim's blood. The phrase to be taken with red hand originally meant "to be caught in the act". The use of red hand in this sense dates back to at least the 15th century in medieval Scotland and Scots law. Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1819) contains the first recorded use of taken red-handed for someone apprehended in the act of committing a crime. The expression subsequently became more common as caught red-handed.