ready to hand
1
3.4
- idiom
:
a mano
- Please have your passports, immigration forms, I-94, and customs declarations ready to hand to the inspector.
Do you think that there are tools ready to hand that could be implemented to try to bend the cost curve as people say?
- Do you think that there are tools ready to hand that could be implemented to try to bend the cost curve as people say?
- You choose whether you take in what he has to say, the dogmata, the the ideas that you can have ready to hand.
- Stoics called and he says these meaning little, you know, statements Maxim's and encourage students to keep them ready to hand to contemplate during difficult moments.
- Magic is ready to hand and I have used it above, but I should not have done so.
Examples
-
By Tuesday night, the coaches have to have playbooks ready to hand players Wednesday morning.
-
If you want to have a CV ready to hand over, arrange an appointment at the Careers Service before the Careers Fair to ask for some CV feedback.
Blog text (19) -
I rolled down the window, ready to hand it to him.
Fiction book (1992) -
Do you think that there are tools ready to hand that could be implemented to try to bend the cost curve as people say?
-
SAM will have files and documents ready to hand Kaffee as he needs them.
Fiction book (1992) -
Please have your passports, immigration forms, I-94, and customs declarations ready to hand to the inspector.
-
My sword lay ready to hand, and so too did my knife.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Prepared and willing to act or be used immediately
103
1.3
Ready to use or do something when needed
85
3.5
Ready to start or continue something
81
2.1
Ready to use or help when needed
20
3.5
Prepared and available to use immediately
9
1.7
Near where you are so you can reach or use it quickly
5
3.7
Ready to use when needed
Easy to get on a phone or computer
Prepared and alert to act immediately
How Accessible
Surface Forms
Morphology
The word 'ready' clearly conveys availability, and 'hand' suggests physical proximity, so a learner can partially infer an idea of something being available or near. However, the specific collocation 'to hand' is a fixed prepositional phrase in English and the precise meaning 'easily accessible/within reach' is not fully predictable from the literal parts without exposure; similar 'hand' metaphors exist in other languages which may help guessing but do not make it fully transparent.
Etymology
Ready to hand comes from a simple picture: something kept so it is ready and close to your hand, like a tool on a bench you can grab at once. So, if something is ready to hand, it means it is 'easy to reach' or 'available to use'.