what is the true meaning of being caught redhanded?

Answer 1

"Red-handed is clearly an allusion to having blood on one's hands. This originates from Scotland and an earlier form of the term, simply 'red hand', dates back to a usage the Scottish Acts of Parliament, 1432.

The earliest printed version of 'red-handed' is from Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, 1819:

"I did but tie one fellow, who was taken redhanded and in the fact, to the horns of a wild stag."

The are several phrases that are now in everyday use that were first put into print by Scott. It's likely that he coined at least some of them himself, although we should add the proviso that he drew widely from the language and themes of Scots folk history.

The enormous popularity of Sir Walter Scott's books certainly brought 'red-handed' to a wide audience. In the earlier 'redhand' form, it appears in print many times in Scottish writings prior to 1819, in court records etc. He is very likely to have heard it before writing Ivanhoe.

The earliest known citation of the 'caught red-handed' form is in the English novelist George Alfred Lawrence's work Guy Livingstone; or, 'Thorough', 1857:

My companion picked up the object; and we had just time to make out that it was a bell-handle and name-plate, when the pursuers came up - six or seven "peelers" and specials, with a ruck of men and boys. We were collared on the instant. The fact of the property being found in our possession constituted a 'flagrans delictum' - we were caught "red-handed.""

Hand me those 10 points, would you? :)

Answer 2

okay im just going to say it in a shorter and easyer to read.
Being caught redhanded i think comes from the fact when u kill some one you're goin to get the blood from the viticm on you and mainly on your hands and say a cop catchs you the blood has made ur hand red so your caught REDHANDED thats why our mums teach us to wash our hands

Answer 3

CAUGHT RED-HANDED - a phrase Meaning - To be caught in the act of committing a crime, with the evidence still on show.

ORIGIN - CAUGHT RED-HANDED - "'To be taken with red hand' in ancient times was to be caught in the act, like a murderer, his hands red with his victim's blood. The use of 'red hand' in this sense goes back to 15th century Scotland and Scottish law. Scott's 'Ivanhoe' has the first recorded use of 'taken red-handed' for someone apprehended in the act of committing a crime. Not long after, the expression became more common as 'caught red-handed.'" From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997),