1. handicap - Noun
2. handicap - Verb
An allowance of a certain amount of time or distance in starting, granted in a race to the competitor possessing inferior advantages; or an additional weight or other hindrance imposed upon the one possessing superior advantages, in order to equalize, as much as possible, the chances of success; as, the handicap was five seconds, or ten pounds, and the like.
A race, for horses or men, or any contest of agility, strength, or skill, in which there is an allowance of time, distance, weight, or other advantage, to equalize the chances of the competitors.
An old game at cards.
To encumber with a handicap in any contest; hence, in general, to place at disadvantage; as, the candidate was heavily handicapped.
Source: Webster's dictionaryThe way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion. Lewis Mumford
Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy. Robert A. Heinlein
Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome. Golda Meir
That Amendment requires the state to be a neutral in its relations with groups of religious believers and nonbelievers; it does not require the state to be their adversary. State power is no more to be used so as to handicap religions than it is to favor them. Hugo Black
I am an inveterate homemaker, it is at once my pleasure, my recreation, and my handicap. Were I a man, my books would have been written in leisure, protected by a wife and a secretary and various household officials. As it is, being a woman, my work has had to be done between bouts of homemaking. Pearl S. Buck
Rich is he who has no debts, fortunate he who lives without handicap. Mongolian Proverb