hand over

verb

To relinquish control or possession of something to someone.

“I handed over the controls to the copilot.”

Meanings

verbhand over (third-person singular simple present hands over, present participle handing over, simple past and past participle handed over)

present singular third person hands over · participle present handing over · participle past handed over · past handed over

  1. idiomatictransitiveTo relinquish control or possession of something to someone.

    I handed over the controls to the copilot.

    3 more examples

    The train was handed over 21 min. late at Salisbury, so there was every encouragement to Driver Moore, of Salisbury, to "get a move on."

    1951 August, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 554

    When classes start in September, the University of Macau’s new campus — still under construction on about a square kilometer, or roughly 250 acres, on Hengqin Island in southern Guangdong Province — will be “handed over” to Macau governance in accordance with a 2009 bill by the National People’s Congress in Beijing.

    2013 July 14, Joyce Lau, Calvin Yang, “University of Macau Moves Over the China Border”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Jul 2013, Asia Pacific

    Liverpool still have a game in hand but City have made up most of that lost ground and this was a resounding message that they will not be handing over the title.

    2019 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 6-0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport
  2. idiomatictransitiveTo deliver (someone to an enemy, police, etc.).

Synonyms & antonyms

Similar

verbto surrender someone or something to another

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Ancient Greek παρέχω
  • παρέχω (parékhō)to relinquish control or possession
Arabic سَلَّمَ
  • سَلَّمَ (sallama)to relinquish control or possession
Chinese Mandarin 交出, 移交
  • 交出 (jiāochū)to relinquish control or possession
  • 移交 (yíjiāo)to relinquish control or possession
Czech předat
  • předatto relinquish control or possession
Dutch overhandigen, uitleveren
  • overhandigento relinquish control or possession
  • uitleverento deliver to people
Esperanto transdoni
  • transdonito relinquish control or possession
Finnish antaa, luovuttaa
  • antaato relinquish control or possession
  • luovuttaato relinquish control or possession
French remettre, donner
  • remettreto relinquish control or possession
  • donnerto relinquish control or possession
  • transmettreto relinquish control or possession
  • passerto relinquish control or possession
  • livrerto deliver to people
  • aboulerto deliver to people
German übergeben, überreichen
  • übergebento relinquish control or possession
  • überreichento relinquish control or possession
  • aushändigento relinquish control or possession
  • überantwortento deliver to people
Hindi थमाना
  • थमाना (thamānā)to relinquish control or possession
Hungarian átad, átnyújt
  • átadto relinquish control or possession
  • átnyújtto relinquish control or possession
  • odaadto relinquish control or possession
  • átruházto relinquish control or possession
  • lemondto relinquish control or possession
  • feladto relinquish control or possession
  • leadto relinquish control or possession
  • átadto deliver to people
  • kiadto deliver to people
  • kiszolgáltatto deliver to people
Icelandic afhenda
  • afhendato relinquish control or possession
Italian cedere, trasferire
  • cedereto relinquish control or possession
  • trasferireto relinquish control or possession
Japanese 引き渡す, 手渡す
  • 引き渡す (hikiwatasu)to relinquish control or possession
  • 手渡す (tewatasu)to relinquish control or possession
Latin trādō, dedo
  • trādōto relinquish control or possession
  • dedoto relinquish control or possession
Persian از دست دادن, واگذاشتن
  • از دست دادن (az dast dâdan)to relinquish control or possession
  • واگذاشتن (vâgozâštan)to relinquish control or possession
  • واسپردن (vâsepordan)to deliver to people
  • رساندن (resândan)to deliver to people
Polish przekazywać, przekazać
  • przekazywaćto relinquish control or possession
  • przekazaćto relinquish control or possession
  • oddawaćto deliver to people
  • oddaćto deliver to people
Portuguese entregar, transferir
  • entregarto relinquish control or possession
  • transferirto relinquish control or possession
  • passarto relinquish control or possession
  • entregarto deliver to people
Russian передава́ть, переда́ть
  • передава́ть (peredavátʹ)to relinquish control or possession
  • переда́ть (peredátʹ)to relinquish control or possession
  • вруча́ть (vručátʹ)to relinquish control or possession
  • вручи́ть (vručítʹ)to relinquish control or possession
  • сдава́ть (sdavátʹ)to relinquish control or possession
  • сдать (sdatʹ)to relinquish control or possession
Spanish devolver, entregar
  • devolverto relinquish control or possession
  • entregarto relinquish control or possession
  • abandonarto relinquish control or possession
  • pasar el mandoto relinquish control or possession
Swedish överlämna
  • överlämnato relinquish control or possession
Yiddish אַהערגעבן
  • אַהערגעבן (ahergebn)to relinquish control or possession
Cite this entry
APA

hand over. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hand%20over

MLA

“hand over.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hand%20over. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hand over,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hand%20over.

Source: hand over on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.