have a handle on

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

have a handle on (third-person singular simple present has a handle on, present participle having a handle on, simple past and past participle had a handle on)

1. (idiomatic) To understand or grasp.

   To work efficiently, it's important to have a handle on the procedures involved.

2. (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.

See also

• get a handle on