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catch someone red-handed. idiom. Add to word list. Add to word list. to discover someone while they are doing something bad or illegal: He was caught red-handed taking money from the till. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Finding and discovering. ascertain.
“Caught red-handed” is probably a phrase you’ve heard before because it’s been around for ages. We use it to describe someone who’s been caught right in the act of committing a crime or doing something wrong (not necessarily a crime), and there’s no denying their guilt.
catch (one) red-handed. To see, and perhaps apprehend, someone as they are doing something (often something nefarious). The phrase might have originally referred to blood on a murderer's hands. The police caught the robbers red-handed as they ransacked another house.
The first term referred to blood on a murderer's hands and originally signified only that crime. Later it was extended to any offense. The variant ( catch in the act ) is a translation of the Latin in flagrante delicto , part of the Roman code and long used in English law.
catch (one) red-handed. To see, and perhaps apprehend, someone as they are doing something (often something nefarious). The phrase might have originally referred to blood on a murderer's hands. The police caught the robbers red-handed as they ransacked another house.
Definition: To witness someone in the act of doing something wrong, immoral, or illegal. This idiom is typically used when someone has witnessed another person committing a crime or doing something wrong. Previously, “red-hand” or “red-handed” referred specifically to the act of committing a crime.
to catch a person in the act of doing something wrong. (See also caught red-handed.) Tom was stealing the car when the police drove by and caught him red-handed. Mary tried to cash a forged check at the bank, and the teller caught her red-handed. See also: catch.
