with bare hands
1
3.5
- idiom
:
con las manos desnudas
- With bare hands, she unfastened her helmet catches and tipped it back.
- handle it with bare hands
Examples
-
I've seen kids digging with bare hands, with monstrous calluses on their fingertips, bulging just below hardened nails.
Fiction book (2002) -
With bare hands, they clawed away the dirt; through sheer numbers, they battered apart the concrete vaults and sealed caskets.
Fiction book (2002) -
And all the stuff of hunting, well, are you able to hunt with bare hands and alone?
Blog text (30) -
If you heal my father... I can show you where to dig gold out of the ground with bare hands.
-
This has been done primarily by touching foods, which are not subsequently cooked, with bare hands.
Academic text (2002) -
All because our authorities could find nothing better to do than empty the cafes of their customers and dispatch them in overloaded trucks to combat the fire with bare hands.
Fiction book (1998) -
He caught the fish with bare hands after a long struggle in the river.
-
She was able to climb the tree and collect the fruit with bare hands.
-
They built the sandcastle using only bare hands, without any tools.
Synonyms
81
2.0
To do something with your hands, for example writing or making things, instead of with a machine
72
3.5
To do a task using the hands instead of a machine
Using the hands without gloves or other covering
How Equipped
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'without using any tools; using only one's hands' is directly and compositionally derived from 'with' (expressing instrument), 'bare' (uncovered/without other things), and 'hands' (manual extremities). This instrument + adjective + noun pattern is common in English and in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
With bare hands comes from the simple image of someone doing a job using only their bare hands, with nothing to help them. Imagine tearing wallpaper or digging a hole with just your hands. That's why it means 'without using any tools'.