get one's hands on

present singular third person gets one's hands on · participle present getting one's hands on · past got one's hands on · UK participle past got one's hands on · US participle past gotten one's hands on

1. informaltransitiveTo get; to obtain; to secure.

   If you can get your hands on the right ingredients, it's an easy recipe.

   3 more examples

   I'd have smoked Silk Cuts if I could get my hands on them more often, but they're imports and cost even more than domestics, which were outrageously priced even four years minus one day ago, and even from the discount cigarette store, where I was already spending a dollar less per deck than I would have if I'd bought cigarettes from the gas stations or convenience stores.

   2006, Sondra Harris, Getting My Think on, page 133

   With my CD and pager in the pocket of my new Inspector Gadget coat, I wandered the shop floor, picking up and sampling the tester pots of pretty much every product I could get my hands on.

   2011, Mikey Walsh, Gypsy Boy on the Run

   Decisively, there was the prospect of getting my hands on a slice of that petroleum fund.

   2013, Tim Moore, Frost on my Moustache

2. To catch.

   Now Lloyd wanted badly to get his hands on him.

   2011, D. Talbott, Prizm

   2 more examples

   That's why he wants to get his hands on Noie Barnum.

   2011, James Lee Burke, Feast Day of Fools

   He couldn't wait to get his hands on the people who did this.

   2014, Irene Kueh, Carol Cajigas, Silent Voices