Meanings
- CanadaUScollege; school; amateur sports; college; school; amateur sportsA show of unity and usually optimism at the end of an informal huddle of players whereby the players simultaneously extend a hand horizontally towards the center of the circle and then raise their hands in the air with a short team chant.
Chris rallied the team with a "1, 2, 3, Go Tigers!" hands-in and they went on to win the match and the cup.
4 more examples
Have a seat. Great scene. I think this is going to work out. Hey, one last group thing. Everybody back on your feet. Stand up. Hands in. Come on. Hands in. (She sticks her hand out and tries to the best of her ability to do a “hands in” with the audience.)
2010, Joe Janes, 365 Sketches: One Comedy Sketch a Day for a Year, →ISBN, page 671I did a hands-in.
2011 July 17, “The Safe House”, in Curb Your Enthusiasm, season 8, episode 2, spoken by Marty Funkhouser (Bob Einstein)At two routines til go time, Mandy Lockley assembles us into a circle and we do a hands-in. “Go, Puffins,” we whisper, without exclamation point, without joy
2019, Mariah MacCarthy, Squad, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, →ISBN, page 108Dad gives a little pep talk, then says, “On three … G-Beatz!” We all give a hands-in and the rest of the boys shout.
2021, Mae Respicio, How to Win a Slime War, Random House, →ISBN, page 94
Cite this entry
hands-in. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hands-in
“hands-in.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hands-in. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hands-in,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hands-in.
Source: hands-in on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.