A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

hand-off • hands-off
hand-off —(Rugby Football) the action of pushing off an
opponent with the hand: Gray has a fine kick, with a strong
hand-off.
hands-off —
1
. (of a course of action) characterized by not
interfering or getting involved: A protest must be made against
this hands-off government policy. Cf.: hands-on —(of an
apprach, training, etc.) involving active participation: There’s
no better way to tell if you’re cut out for the work than hands-
on experience. 2. (Technolog y) automatically controlled: Sev-
eral companies have developed stabilization systems which
enable the helicopter to be flown “hands-off.”
hand running • hand-run
hand running —(coll.) one after the other; in unbroken suc-
cession: Their wants were few — a pint of beer at the end of
the day, a weekly paper to pore over for seven nights hand-
running…
hand-run —(of lace) machine-made but finished by hand:
French underwear was made of the sheerest pure silk ninon
and trimmed with hand-run Alençon lace.
handicraftsman • handy-man
handicraftsman —a man who earns his living by making
decorative items completely by hand: His son inherited his
own traits, and gave bright promise of excelling as a skilled
handicraftsman.
handy-man —a man skilled at doing small jobs such as
household repairs: We had had this problem with our bath
tub faucet for almost three months. First we asked a handy
man to fix it.
hang all one’s bells on one horse • put all one’s
eggs in one basket
hang all one’s bells on one horse —(UK arch.) leave all one’s
property to one child: I’ll not hang all my bells on one horse.
I’ll not leave all my property to one son.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase put all one’s money upon the wrong horse—(also: put
one’s money on a scratched horse) base one’s plans on a wrong
guess about the result of smth.: Members will keenly feel the
nature of the mistake when I say that we put all our money
upon the wrong horse.
put all one’s eggs in one basket—allow all one’s hopes, money,
etc. to depend on one event; risk everything at once: Person-
ally, I prefer when at all possible not to put all my eggs in one
basket, no matter how nice the basket.