subs. (colloquial).—An arrangement in racing, etc., by which every competitor is, or is supposed to be, brought on an equality so far as regards his chance of winning by an adjustment of the weights to be carried, the distance to be run, etc.: extra weight or distance being imposed in proportion to their supposed merits on those held better than the others. [A handicap is framed in accordance with the known performances of the competitors, and, in horse-racing, with regard to the age and sex of the entries. The term is derived from the old game of hand-in-cap, or handicap.]
1660. PEPYS, Diary, 18 Sept. Here some of us fell to HANDYCAPP, a sport that I never knew before.
1883. HAWLEY SMART, Hard Lines, xxi. The race carried so many penalties and allowances that it partook somewhat of the nature of a HANDICAP.
Verb (colloquial).—1. To adjust or proportion weights, starts, etc., in order to bring a number of competitors as nearly as possible to an equality.
1841. LEVER, Charles O’Malley, ch. lxviii. Pleasant and cheerful enough, when they’re HANDICAPPING the coat off your back, and your new tilbury for a spavined pony and a cotton umbrella; but regular devils if you come to cross them the least in life.
2. To make even or level; to equalise between.
3. To embarrass, burden, hinder, or impede in any way.
1883. GRENVILLE MURRAY, People I Have Met, 123. He was not HANDICAPPED by a title, so that the beautiful ethics of hereditary legislation had no claim on his attention.
