extra pair of hands
- noun
- Informal
:
asistente adicional
- The factory installed collaborative robots as an extra pair of hands on the assembly line.
Examples
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When her assistant was sick, the scheduling app acted as an extra pair of hands to manage meetings.
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Using software as an extra pair of hands can streamline repetitive tasks in the office.
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During the move, hiring extra pairs of hands—human movers and robots—sped up the packing.
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We could really use an extra pair of hands for this project.
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An extra pair of hands would speed up the process!
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The company introduced automated machines as an extra pair of hands to improve productivity.
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The gardening robot served as an extra pair of hands by watering the plants while we took a break.
Synonyms
31
1.4
Someone who gives support when you need it
Antonyms
How Automated
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an additional helper' is directly derivable from the constituents: 'extra' (more), 'pair' (set/bunch) and 'hands' (workers/helpers for physical tasks). The metaphorical use of 'hands' for people who do manual work is common and the overall composition follows a transparent logic that a B1 learner who knows the parts can readily infer.
Etymology
Extra pair of hands in modern use keeps the same picture but the 'hands' can be machines or tools. When a robot or app does the work for you, it acts like an extra pair of hands, so the phrase can mean 'a non-human helper'.