Definition of Handicap

Handicap

An allowance of a certain amount of time or distance in starting, granted in a race to the competitor possessing inferior advantages; or an additional weight or other hindrance imposed upon the one possessing superior advantages, in order to equalize, as much as possible, the chances of success; as, the handicap was five seconds, or ten pounds, and the like.

A race, for horses or men, or any contest of agility, strength, or skill, in which there is an allowance of time, distance, weight, or other advantage, to equalize the chances of the competitors.

An old game at cards.

To encumber with a handicap in any contest; hence, in general, to place at disadvantage; as, the candidate was heavily handicapped.

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Handicap Quotations

In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
Napoleon Bonaparte

It is good taste, and good taste alone, that possesses the power to sterilize and is always the first handicap to any creative functioning.
Salvador Dali

Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.
Robert A. Heinlein

As another has well said, to handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching.
Carter G. Woodson

Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.
Golda Meir

The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion.
Lewis Mumford

I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key.
Gustave Flaubert

People think that if you look fairly reasonable, you can't possibly act, and as I only care about acting, I think beauty can be a great handicap.
Vivien Leigh

While formal schooling is an important advantage, it is not a guarantee of success nor is its absence a fatal handicap.
Ray Kroc

Since it is seldom clear whether intellectual activity denotes a superior mode of being or a vital deficiency, opinion swings between considering intellect a privilege and seeing it as a handicap.
Jacques Barzun

And yeah, my handicap was down to a 10 when we were at the thick of it. I trained for six or seven months, golfing every day for six hours, seven days a week, with eight trainers. It was intense.
Shia LaBeouf

I understand why marriages break up over golf. I can't even talk about my own handicap because it's too upsetting.
Shia LaBeouf

One of my favorite things to do is play golf at Braemar Country Club. It's quiet and not overly crowded. The people are nice, and there's wildlife all around the course. As far as my game itself, I can go from a 10 handicap to a 30, depending on the day.
Scott Baio

Prior to that I produced a couple of TV movies for CBS, but the truth of the matter is that I burned out for a couple of years. I didn't do anything for a while, apart from taking up golf, for which I got a four handicap.
Gil Gerard

I don't smoke marijuana anymore. I don't drink. Marijuana is a handicap. So is alcohol. Alcohol is a terrible handicap. But in spite of being a handicap, it shouldn't be criminal.
Gary Johnson

For fear of dropping the troops in the sea, the pilots tended to drop them too far inland - some of them actually in the British lines. The weapon containers often fell wide of the troops, which was another handicap that contributed to our excessive casualties.
Kurt Student

I've been writing a lot, I've a few projects I'm trying to finance, I do some acting, I do some directing... Apart from that, if I could get lower that a ten handicap on my golf game I'd be thrilled.
Paul M. Glaser

You've got to love what you're doing. If you love it, you can overcome any handicap or the soreness or all the aches and pains, and continue to play for a long, long time.
Gordie Howe

There are so many opportunities in life, that the loss of two or three capabilities is not necessarily debilitating. A handicap can give you the opportunity to focus more on art, writing, or music.
Jim Davis

This same habitual blindness to spiritual, substantive dimensions of every significant challenge continues to handicap Hollywood.
Michael Medved

But the worst handicap we had the prohibition of naming individual units who had done the fighting.
Philip Gibbs

An intellectual is someone who avoids the mundane by lowering his handicap.
Richard Reeves

More Handicap Quotations

Handicap Translations

handicap in French is embarrasser, handicap
handicap in German is Behinderung, behindern
handicap in Norwegian is handikap
handicap in Spanish is empachar, impedimento

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