From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhands offhands offspoken used to say that someone cannot have, take, or touch something Hey! Hands off that CD! It’s mine! Tell your little brother to keep his hands off my car. → hands-off → hand
Examples from the Corpus
keep ... hands off• And keep your hands off Maria.• They should stay out where they belong - keep their hands off our people.• I could not keep my hands off them.• The government should keep its hands off content.• I can't keep my damned hands off you!• Couldn't keep our hands off each other.• I jerked my arm away and gave him a made-up name, then told him to keep his goddam hands off.• But today with his mind too preoccupied to work he seemed quite unable to keep his hands off it.hands-offˈhands-off adjective [only before noun] RESPONSIBLEa hands-off way of organizing something involves letting people do what they want and make their own decisions, without telling them what to do a hands-off style of management The government has a hands-off approach to the industry.Examples from the Corpus
hands-off• A hands-off approach to macroeconomic management has the great virtue of leaving both hands free for microeconomic tasks.• And in his case it's hard to fault the hands-off philosophy.• The hands-off policy was extended to the structure of citizen participation and the social targeting provisions.• I had no choice but to cut back to a hands-off style-getting involved in exceptions only.hands-off approach• A hands-off approach to macroeconomic management has the great virtue of leaving both hands free for microeconomic tasks.From Longman Business Dictionaryhands-offˈhands-off adjectiveHUMAN RESOURCES not telling the people you are in charge of exactly what to do, but letting them make their own decisionsHis hands-off approach to management was seen by some as laziness. 