The returned from the negotiations empty-handed.    From Wordnet, Princeton University. 

"I just couldn't go there empty-handed," she says.    From Wordnik.com.  [Fifteen Minutes Of Fame] Reference

If we're all lucky, it'll leave town empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Say Goodbye To Hollywood] Reference

After a struggle, the assailant fled empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Anne Arundel County and Howard County crime reports] Reference

So what if Europe's grandees went home empty-handed?.    From Wordnik.com.  [Kick The Can, Please!] Reference

Until now, tobacco's critics have come away empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Smoke And Fire] Reference

Lost is going to walk away empty-handed, I think. #emmys10.    From Wordnik.com.  [Emmy Awards 2010: Live Tweets during the telecast] Reference

Two males fled empty-handed in a blue Chevrolet Silverado.    From Wordnik.com.  [Montgomery County crime report] Reference

Show up to a party empty-handed and you're off Santa's list.    From Wordnik.com.  [Please Tip The Hostess] Reference

The assailant fled empty-handed when two passersby intervened.    From Wordnik.com.  [Montgomery County crime report] Reference

Mr. Edward Malet, returned to Paris empty-handed, except that he bore.    From Wordnik.com.  [Memoirs of the Union's Three Great Civil War Generals] Reference

Eight months and 40 apartment viewings later, he is still empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [BURSTING BUBBLES] Reference

When he refused, they struck him with a bottle, then fled empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Montgomery County crime report] Reference

The intruder fled empty-handed when confronted by a returning occupant.    From Wordnik.com.  [Montgomery County crime report] Reference

After a foot chase and a brief struggle, the robbers fled empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Anne Arundel County and Howard County crime reports] Reference

Young people won't be left empty-handed unless they vote to let that happen.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Challenge, Not A Crisis] Reference

My instincts told me it was ungracious to let the guests leave empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Avoiding 99 cent store party favors] Reference

While a few companies succeed in securing a check, most go home empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Free Pitches?] Reference

The real-life parents of the dead children, however, may wind up empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Early Warning 2] Reference

Nor did the American Missionary Association send this child forth empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [The American Missionary — Volume 48, No. 7, July, 1894] Reference

Now she'll walk into a Gap only occasionally, and usually walks out empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Filling In The Gap] Reference

Two males seen trying to break into a residence fled empty-handed when confronted.    From Wordnik.com.  [Montgomery County crime report] Reference

Billions of dollars later, they've come up empty-handed and increasingly desperate.    From Wordnik.com.  [Deirdre Imus: The Age of Autism] Reference

If this is the case, U.S. law enforcement and prosecutors could be left empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Alleged Arms Dealer Victor Bout Extradited To The U.S.] Reference

A man broke into a vehicle, then fled empty-handed in a silver sedan when confronted.    From Wordnik.com.  [Montgomery County crime report] Reference

She would think she was having a surprise party if every one had not come empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Stories Worth Rereading] Reference

But he didn't go home empty-handed: He won the viewers 'choice award for Best New Artist.    From Wordnik.com.  [Drama lacking at MTV's Video Music Awards] Reference

But for more than 9,000 men and women who will go home empty-handed, the play's the thing.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Games Of Summer] Reference

When I went to my grandma's it was empty-handed, and I was sent just to be company for her.    From Wordnik.com.  [Hilary Mantel Comma] Reference

But just as they did in neighboring Peoria County, the investigators went home empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Stacy Peterson Search Continues In New Area, But Still Without Results] Reference

But on one chilly Catalan day, he didn't clear a single bar and left the stadium empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Good As Gold] Reference

He always returned empty-handed, and Nannie watched with an impish smile from an upper window.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Gentle Art of Cooking Wives] Reference

This time the hunters came back empty-handed, but last month they killed 84 wolves in the area.    From Wordnik.com.  [Palin and the Wolves] Reference

"People had to start empty-handed but have quickly renewed their old business ways and contacts.".    From Wordnik.com.  [The 'Saigon Virus: It's Catching] Reference

Two men entered a residence through a back door, then fled empty-handed when confronted by an occupant.    From Wordnik.com.  [Montgomery County crime report] Reference

A person trying to break into a residence fled empty-handed when confronted in the residence's back yard.    From Wordnik.com.  [Montgomery County crime report] Reference

But Witkowski, director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, a watchdog group, came away empty-handed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Book Those Fares While You Can] Reference