back of one's hand

Idioms  

1. Rejection or contempt, as in Unimpressed with him, she gave the back of her hand to his suggestion. This phrase is usually the object of a verb such as give or show. [Second half of 1700s] Back of the hand similarly means “an insult” in the term back-handed compliment (see under left-handed compliment) but has a quite different meaning in know like the back of one's hand (see under know like a book).

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Example Sentences

They require foreign hand movements, such as reaching out to pinch digital objects in the air and tapping the front and back of one’s hand to adjust the volume or launch a menu.

From Los Angeles Times

The American setting is as familiar as the back of one’s hand.

From New York Times

It championed the hippie trail: the fabrics that could be found while backpacking from Kathmandu to Pokhara, Rajasthan to Kerala, tapestries transformed into sarongs with a knot and a needs must; napkins tied into halter necks tops; colors and patterns that mapped out the search for enlightenment through cultures and communes and the back of one’s hand.

From New York Times

It’s a little hard to compliment Jay-Z’s 4:44 without tipping the back of one’s hand.

From Slate

In these cases I have also found the tongue cold to the touch of the finger, and the breath to the back of one's hand, when opposed to it, which are very inauspicious symptoms, and generally fatal.

From Project Gutenberg