dead man's hand

noun, Poker.
1.
a hand containing the two pairs of two aces and two eights.
Word Origin and History for dead man's hand
n.

in poker, pair of aces and pair of eights, supposedly what Wild Bill Hickock held when Jack McCall shot him in 1876.

Slang definitions & phrases for dead man's hand

dead man's hand

noun phrase

A hand containing a pair of aces and a pair of eights

[late 1800s+ Poker; fr the tradition that Wild Bill Hickock held such a hand when Jack McCall shot him in 1876]