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View synonyms for catch red-handed
catch red-handed
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Idioms and Phrases
Also, catch in the act . Apprehend someone in the course of wrongdoing, as in The boys were trying to steal a car and the police caught them red-handed , or He tried to cheat on the exam, but his teacher walked in and caught him in the act . 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.Advertisement
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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