to hand over
- phrasal verb
- /hænd ˈoʊvər/
- I'll give you 10 seconds to hand over Earl Williams.
- hand over power
- hand over control
- refuse to hand over
The cashier did so quickly and handed over the amount to her.
- The cashier did so quickly and handed over the amount to her.
- And I handed him over to her and we wept.
- The convent, which became Covent Garden, was handed over to the Bedfords family.
- And Alba gets handed over to Byron.
- What's the, you know, my choices were I either hand myself over to them or I die.
- Offer that deal, Hand him over and I won't say a word to anybody.
- I'm not going to edit that out, but now I'll hand it over to Robinson, the drummer.
- Stop handing your reality over to the narcissist.
- But, Dave, no, I was planning to hand the images over to the police.
- And if he does wrestle, I hand over to you Moozun Alkain Perpertharona.
Examples
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Hand over your command and report yourself under arrest to my headquarters!
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Michael, a court can force you to hand over your text messages.
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So, the day that you hand over the cash... is the...
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But, Dave, no, I was planning to hand the images over to the police.
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As an officer of the court, I was obligated to hand it over.
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If there's a robbery, you're trained to just hand it over.
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The queen apparently took the patriarch's words to heart and promptly handed the relic over to him.
Academic text (2004) -
The man eyed him suspiciously and handed over the belt with obvious displeasure.
Fiction book (1991) -
During the investigation, the detective asked the suspect to hand over any evidence he had.
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If you find any illegal items in your possession, it's best to hand over those items to the authorities immediately.
Synonyms
To hand something to someone, for example a present
To give something to someone
To stop fighting and give control or things to someone else, often when forced
To hand a job or control you have to someone else
To hand someone or something to another person, an authority
To give a person or thing to the police
To give property or rights to another person
Give a person or thing to someone else to look after
To make someone else the owner of something
To give something to another person, often information or a message
To give up a right, claim, or ownership of something
To give up control, a right, or something you own
To give something to another person or authority, often formally
Give objects, knowledge, or traditions to younger people in your family
To officially give control, ownership or rights to someone else
Give responsibility, control, or an object to another person
Give ownership of something to another person by signing papers
To give money to someone after they ask or force you
Give up rights or property by agreeing to it in writing
Give your rights in property to another person
To officially give property or rights to someone
Give something to another person or place to keep safe
Give ownership of property to another person using a legal document
Antonyms
How Voluntary
Surface Forms
Morphology
hand + over
The meaning 'to give or transfer possession' is directly derivable from combining 'hand' (to give or pass an item) with the particle 'over', which signals transfer/completion; the verb+particle composition transparently encodes handing something to another. This is a common, compositional phrasal-verb pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Hand over may come from the simple image of one person passing an object from their hand to another person's hand, moving it over to them. That's why hand over now means 'to give control or ownership', often because you must.