at hand

English

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

at hand

1. Within easy reach; nearby.

   Synonyms: handy, to hand, on hand, at one's fingertips, at one's fingers' ends

   I don't have the information at hand, but I can look it up.

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:

     The King your brother is now hard at hand,
     Meete with the foole, and rid your royall ſhoulders
     Of ſuch a burden, as outweighs the ſands
     And all the craggie rockes of Caſpea.

2. Near; soon.

   Synonyms: approaching, imminent; see also Thesaurus:impending

   • 1903 July, Jack London, “Into the Primitive”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 39:

     At last, one morning, the propeller was quiet, and the Narwhal was pervaded with an atmosphere of excitement. He felt it, as did the other dogs, and knew that a change was at hand.

3. (figurative) Currently receiving attention.
   • 2001, Ghaith Mahmood, “Problem is about oppression, not coexistence”, in The Daily Bruin‎, archived from the original on 29 September 2007:

     The problem at hand is not the inability of the Arabs and the Jews to live together peacefully.

Related terms

• near at hand

Translations

Further reading

• “at hand”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Dhanat, hadn't a