handicapper

[ han-dee-kap-er ]

/ ˈhæn diˌkæp ər /

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noun

Horse Racing.

a racetrack official or employee who assigns the weight a horse must carry in a race.
a person employed, as by a newspaper, to make predictions on the outcomes of horse races.

a person who determines the handicaps that will be placed on competitors.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of handicapper

First recorded in 1745–55; handicap + -er¹

Words nearby handicapper

handhold, handholding, hand horn, handicap, handicapped, handicapper, handicap register, handicraft, handicraftsman, Handies Peak, handily

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use handicapper in a sentence

As a result, election handicappers at The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections and Sabato’s Crystal Ball all rate Virginia as more competitive than New Jersey.
What We’re Watching In The Virginia And New Jersey Primaries|Geoffrey Skelley (geoffrey.skelley@abc.com)|June 7, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
Nonpartisan handicappers say this leans Republican but could go Democratic under the right conditions.
The state legislative battles to watch in 2020|Amber Phillips|October 2, 2020|Washington Post
In fact, circumstances seem so dire for the GOP that election handicappers like the Cook Political Report think the Democrats — once underdogs — are slightly favored to take back the GOP-controlled Senate, too.
Why There Are So Few Moderate Republicans Left|Lee Drutman (drutman@newamerica.org)|August 24, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
According to Charlie Cook, the Capitol Hill handicapper, nine Senate races now qualify as "tossups."
Senator Jon Tester: The Democrats' Last Best Hope|Andrew Romano|May 8, 2011|DAILY BEAST

If he has one it is because the handicapper has been careless.
Fore!|Charles Emmett Van Loan
Then again, he is the official handicapper—another strong man's job—with powers which cannot be overestimated.
Fore!|Charles Emmett Van Loan
He is also the official handicapper, which is a mighty good thing to bear in mind when you play against him.
Fore!|Charles Emmett Van Loan
He's a fourteen pound better horse than Ding Dong ever was; a handicapper would separate them that much on their form.
Bulldog Carney|W. A. Fraser
I had just received it from the "official handicapper," and was considerably interested to find what my men had been given.
At Start and Finish|William Lindsey

British Dictionary definitions for handicapper

handicapper

/ (ˈhændɪˌkæpə) /

noun

an official appointed to assign handicaps to competitors in such sports as golf and horse racing

a newspaper columnist employed to estimate the chances that horses have of winning races

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012