【dead hand】 —

1. the influence of the past regarded as controlling the present:

• The 【dead hand】 of vanished generations of historians has determined beyond possibility of appeal the pattern of the past.

2. (coll.) an expert at doing smth.:

• Firstrate work it was, too; he was always a 【dead hand】 at splitting.

Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase hand of death—(liter.) death; demise:

• If, under its influence, normal physical functions could be suspended, perhaps the hand of death, too, could be stayed.

dead man’s hand—a zoophyte (Alcyonium digitatum) forming fleshy masses:

• 【Dead Man’s Hand】 is indebted for the English name to the fishermen, who often take it up in their nets.

Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase dead-man’s arm—(UK) a flat-rolled suet pudding, which is then spread with jam and rolled up:

• Because Jam Roly-Poly was often served in an old shirt-sleeve, another nickname for the pudding was dead-man’s arm.