| Library / English Dictionary |
ON HAND
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Readily available
Example:
there will be a wealth of information on hand from the lawyers
Classified under:
Similar:
available (obtainable or accessible and ready for use or service)
Context examples:
The sailors must have learned whatever project was on hand, and the vim and snap they put into their work attested their enthusiasm.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
"Well, you can leave it, if you like. We've more of this sort of thing on hand than we know what to do with at present, but I'll run my eye over it, and give you an answer next week."
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand, you might care to assist us in a most remarkable case, which occurred only last night at Hampstead.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then may I recommend that you return there and be on hand in case I should want you?
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the intrusion of other matters.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Miss Miller was more ordinary; ruddy in complexion, though of a careworn countenance; hurried in gait and action, like one who had always a multiplicity of tasks on hand: she looked, indeed, what I afterwards found she really was, an under-teacher.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
During the first week of July, my friend had been absent so often and so long from our lodgings that I knew he had something on hand.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most inextricable mysteries.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I sent a telegram home, therefore, to say that I had important business on hand, and that it was impossible for me to say how late I might be.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
