- a race or other contest in which certain disadvantages or advantages of weight, distance, time, etc., are placed upon competitors to equalize their chances of winning.
- the disadvantage or advantage itself.
- any disadvantage that makes success more difficult: The main handicap of our business is lack of capital.
- a physical or mental disability making participation in certain of the usual activities of daily living more difficult.
- to place at a disadvantage; disable or burden: He was handicapped by his injured ankle.
- to subject to a disadvantageous handicap, as a competitor of recognized superiority.
- to assign handicaps to (competitors).
- Sports.
- to attempt to predict the winner of (a contest, especially a horse race), as by comparing past performances of the contestants.
- to assign odds for or against (any particular contestant) to win a contest or series of contests: He handicapped the Yankees at 2-to-1 to take the series from the Cardinals.
- something that hampers or hinders
- a contest, esp a race, in which competitors are given advantages or disadvantages of weight, distance, time, etc, in an attempt to equalize their chances of winning
- the advantage or disadvantage prescribed
- the number of strokes by which a player's averaged score exceeds the standard scratch score for the particular course: used as the basis for handicapping in competitive play
- any physical disability or disadvantage resulting from physical, mental, or social impairment or abnormality
- to be a hindrance or disadvantage to
- to assign a handicap or handicaps to
- to organize (a contest) by handicapping
- US and Canadian
- to attempt to forecast the winner of (a contest, esp a horse race)
- to assign odds for or against (a contestant)
