have a handle on
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
have a handle on
- (idiomatic) To understand or grasp.
- To work efficiently, it's important to have a handle on the procedures involved.
- (idiomatic) To be in control of, to have power over.
- 2003, Tony Hillerman, The Sinister Pig, →ISBN, page 36:
- But the other three problems had all grown out of assigning jobs to people he had no handle on.
- 2011, H. Henrietta Stockel, Drumbeats from Mescalero, →ISBN, page 82:
- We don't have to report to them anymore, but they still have a handle on our Justice Department and the police.
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See also
- get a handle on