get one's hands on

English

Verb

get one's hands on (third-person singular simple present gets one's hands on, present participle getting one's hands on, simple past got one's hands on, past participle (UK) got one's hands on or (US) gotten one's hands on)

1. (informal, transitive) To get; to obtain; to secure.

   If you can get your hands on the right ingredients, it's an easy recipe.

   • 2006, Sondra Harris, Getting My Think on, page 133:

     I'd have smoked Silk Cuts if I could get my hands on them more often, but they're imports and cost even more than domestics, which were outrageously priced even four years minus one day ago, and even from the discount cigarette store, where I was already spending a dollar less per deck than I would have if I'd bought cigarettes from the gas stations or convenience stores.

   • 2011, Mikey Walsh, Gypsy Boy on the Run:

     With my CD and pager in the pocket of my new Inspector Gadget coat, I wandered the shop floor, picking up and sampling the tester pots of pretty much every product I could get my hands on.

   • 2013, Tim Moore, Frost on my Moustache:

     Decisively, there was the prospect of getting my hands on a slice of that petroleum fund.

2. To catch.
   • 2011, D. Talbott, Prizm:

     Now Lloyd wanted badly to get his hands on him.

   • 2011, James Lee Burke, Feast Day of Fools:

     That's why he wants to get his hands on Noie Barnum.

   • 2014, Irene Kueh, Carol Cajigas, Silent Voices:

     He couldn't wait to get his hands on the people who did this.

Translations

to get, to obtain, to secure

• Finnish: saada käsiinsä
• French: mettre la main (fr), dénicher (fr), dégoter (fr)
• Hungarian: ráteszi a kezét
• Polish: położyć rękę (pl) pf

See also

• get one's claws into