From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthrow up your hands (in horror/dismay etc)throw up your hands (in horror/dismay etc)to do something that shows you think something is not good but feel you cannot do anything to change it Ted threw up his hands in disgust. ‘Can’t you make her change her mind?’ he asked. → throw
Examples from the Corpus
throw up your hands (in horror/dismay etc)• Even his most recent wife, Mercedes, had thrown up her hands.• Jenny exclaimed to E.. Ames, throwing up her hands.• But instead of throwing up her hands and blaming the problem on organizational chaos, she stepped back and analyzed the situation.• Here Abie threw up his hands at the ignorance of policemen.• He rounded the bend nearest the building, and nearly dropped the branch for throwing up his hands in frustration.• Paul Reichmann threw up his hands in protest at the suggestion, but did not utter a sound.• Davide had seen the priests, who had shrugged and thrown up their hands indolently at the laundress's problem.• Then they throw up their hands, wondering why the benefits they have been pursuing never seem to accrue. 