handbasket

English

Etymology

From hand +‎ basket.

Noun

handbasket (plural handbaskets)

1. A basket with a handle.
   • 2013, Paul Auster, Here and Now: Letters (2008–2011), page 182:

     I have always wondered how the world, which is very large, can fit into something as small as a handbasket. To deepen my confusion, I’m not even sure I know what a handbasket is. Aren’t all baskets in fact handbaskets, and if they are, isn’t the prefix hand wholly unnecessary? We should probably say: “The world is going to hell in a basket,” although that sounds even worse, doesn’t it?

Derived terms

• to hell in a handbasket, to heck in a handbasket