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  • hands
    hands
    plural noun
    power or keeping
  • Hands
    Hands
    noun
    Terence David, known as Terry. born 1941, British theatre director: chief executive and artistic director (1986–91) of the Royal Shakespeare Company
Synonyms

hands

1 British  
/ hændz /

plural noun

  1. power or keeping

    your welfare is in his hands

  2. Also called: handlingsoccer the infringement of touching the ball with any part of the hand or arm

  3. to pass from the possession of one person or group to another

  4. freedom from guilt

  5. without effort; easily

  6. do not touch or interfere

  7. raise the hands above the level of the shoulders, an order usually given by an armed robber to a victim, etc

    1. to be completely occupied

    2. to be beset with problems

  8. to be wholly unable to act

  9. in protective care

  10. See join

    1. to seize or get possession of

    2. to beat up; assault

    3. to find

      I just can't lay my hands on it anywhere

    4. Christianity to confirm or ordain by the imposition of hands

  11. for which one is no longer responsible

    1. for which one is responsible

      I've got too much on my hands to help

    2. to spare

      time on my hands

  12. no longer one's responsibility

  13. to give up in despair

  14. to have nothing more to do with

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Hands 2 British  
/ hænz /

noun

  1. Terence David, known as Terry. born 1941, British theatre director: chief executive and artistic director (1986–91) of the Royal Shakespeare Company

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His group fears the Ellisons would “do worse if they get their hands on Warner Bros., HBO, CNN and all the rest.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2026

The divers floated to them, their gloved hands touching the surface, searching for seams where the pipelines were at their weakest.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026

From the scaffolding, restorers have been meticulously filling in damaged portions of the frescoes and conservatively layering paint over bare sections with delicate brushes, their hands protected by gloves.

From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026

"So, if the HAQERs are like volume knobs that can be turned, FOXP2 is one of the hands that is turning these volume knobs."

From Science Daily • Jun. 12, 2026

I turned the oval over in my hands, looking at the work she’d already done, each stitch tiny and regular on the back, but the colors on the front were wild and fluid.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

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