If he came back empty-handed to Gateway his future was bleak.

Even plaintiffs who get to court often come away empty-handed.

"We went there to get some of their generators and came away empty-handed."

"Does the President send his brother to peace talks in order to have him come back empty-handed?"

But then we experience the pain of being in a real relationship with them, and come up very empty-handed.

At the end of a frantic two weeks, I was close to coming away empty-handed.

"If the hunters come back empty-handed, we will still have something to eat tonight."

It would be a pleasure when he came back empty-handed.

She'd never seen her friend, this formidable woman, come away so empty-handed.

Eliphas helped me then, but we found nothing and I came back empty-handed.