Other forms: handicapped, handicaps, handicapping
A handicap is an adjustment that gives the weaker player a fair chance. A golfer playing off eighteen has eighteen shots taken off her score, in a handicap race the fastest horses carry the most weight, and a strong chess player might start without a rook.
Outside sport it means anything that holds you back: not speaking the language was a real handicap, the team was handicapped by injuries. One warning matters more than the rest. Using handicap or handicapped of disabled people is dated and many people find it offensive — say disabled person, or person with a disability, and never 'the handicapped'. The sporting and betting uses are untouched by that: a golf handicap, a handicap chase, a handicapper studying the form are all ordinary English. In American English, to handicap a race also means to work out who will win and by how much.
1nounhandicapAn advantage given to a weaker competitor, or a disadvantage given to a stronger one, so that a contest is even.
“In a handicap race the best horses carry the most weight.”
2noungolfIn golf, the number of strokes a player is allowed, showing their standard.
“Her handicap came down four shots over the summer.”
3noundrawbackSomething that makes progress or success harder.
“Having no car out there was a serious handicap.”
synonyms: disadvantage, drawback
4verbputTo put someone at a disadvantage.
“The rain handicapped the away side more than the home team.”
handicap is a scoring adjustment in sport.
Handicap started as hand in cap: the stakes for the game were held in a cap, and hands went into it to settle the deal. From that cap the word moved to the odds and allowances that even a contest up, and from there to anything that weighs a person down.
hand-in-cap From hand-in-cap, in reference to holding the game stakes in a cap.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Games & Toys, Chess & Card Games