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Glite Dictionary
🎟️ To get with effort ✋ To touch or grab
to lay hands on

to lay hands on

6 6.5
To get something, often after hard work
  • phrasal verb
  • /leɪ hændz ɒn/
translation icon : conseguir
  • People were going to stores, buying nonperishable food, batteries, water, and whatever they could lay their hands on.

It is the first native PCI Express SSD I've had the pleasure of laying my hands on and I'm excited for the future of this new technology.

Examples

  • Anyone can lay his hands on it.

    Suspicion (1941)

  • With all the money you can lay your hands on.

    Stage Fright (1950)

  • Every share he can lay his hands on.

    An Enemy of the People (1978)

  • And find nearly any container they can lay their hands on.

    Blog text (21)

  • He used to write on everything he could lay his hands on.

    Zoo (2018)

  • I'm going to Missouri with every steer, cow and bull I can lay my hands on.

    Red River (1948)

  • "Now we are preparing to do our own excavations, and whatever things we lay our hands on, we will bring to this museum," Ahmed says.

    Academic text (2006)

  • I might be able to lay my hands on some Tabaxi primers, if any of the children left them in the classroom.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • As soon as little Veruca told me she had to have one of these golden tickets I started buying all the Wonka bars I could lay my hands on.

    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

  • I need to lay hands on a good textbook before the semester starts.

Synonyms

to grab
vsto lay hands on
∞ 1.0

To take hold of something quickly with your hand

involves deliberate effort to acquire rather than rapid snatching
to obtain
vsto lay hands on
619 2.6

To get something by asking or working for it

is more about difficulty rather than formal request
to get one's hands on
vsto lay hands on
77 4.1

To obtain something that is hard to find or buy

is identical in sense but uses a different phrasing
to get hold
vsto lay hands on
  • UK
66 3.2

To contact a person or obtain something you need

focuses on effortful acquisition rather than purpose or contact
to get hold of
vsto lay hands on
24 2.5

To take something in your hand

means obtaining through effort, not only physical grasp

Antonyms

to lose
∞ 1.0

Not be able to find something you once had

to forfeit
81 5.7

To lose something because you break a rule or as a penalty

How Difficult

to procure
45 6.8
to lay hands on
6 6.5
to secure
324 3.9
to obtain
619 2.6
to find
∞ 1.0
to get
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

lay hands on infinitive
laying hands on present participle
lays hands on third person singular
laid hands on past
laid hands on past participle

Morphology

lay + hand + on

The literal sense of 'lay' + 'hands' + 'on' (to place one's hands on something) evokes grasping or getting hold of an item, so learners can partly infer a sense of obtaining. However, the idiomatic extension to 'acquire or obtain (often with difficulty)' is a metaphorical shift and not fully predictable from the parts without prior exposure.

Etymology

Lay hands on may come from the old idea of claiming or seizing an object by putting your hands on it; if you could 'lay hands on' something, you had taken or found it. That's why it now means 'to obtain or get', often after effort.