sit on one's hands
Take no action; also, fail to applaud. For example, Instead of making a new will, George is sitting on his hands, or The matinee audience was apathetic, sitting on their hands for the whole performance. Both usages of this metaphor for passivity date from the first half of the 1900s.
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Words nearby sit on one's hands
Sitka spruce, sito-, sitology, sitomania, sit on, sit on one's hands, sit on the fence, sitophobia, sitosterol, sitotaxis, sitotoxin
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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