die Hände in den Schoß legen
to remain idle; to sit back and do nothing
Origin
The expression was originally meant literally, putting into words a real bodily gesture: someone sitting idle or dispirited folds their hands in their lap; from this the figurative sense of doing nothing developed.
Building blocks
Words in this expression
Grammar that uses this word
- Two-way prepositions with accusative (Wohin? / where to)Wechselpräpositionen mit Akkusativ (Wohin?)
- Temporal preposition 'vor' (before, + dative)Temporale Präposition 'vor' (+ Dativ)
- Temporal clause with 'bevor' (before)Temporalsatz mit 'bevor'
- Infinitive construction 'ohne ... zu' / 'anstatt ... zu' (without / instead of doing)Infinitivkonstruktion 'ohne ... zu' / 'anstatt ... zu'
- Genitive preposition 'zwecks' (for the purpose of)Genitivpräposition 'zwecks'
Examples
Jetzt ist nicht die , die Hände in den Schoß zu .
Now is not the time to sit back and do nothing.