on hand

prepositional phrase

Available; ready; in stock.

“If you have cornstarch on hand, use it; otherwise, try a little flour.”

Meanings

prepositional phrase

alternative on-hand · alternative onhand

  1. idiomaticAvailable; ready; in stock.

    If you have cornstarch on hand, use it; otherwise, try a little flour.

    3 more examples

    Freight rolling stock distribution is the concern of a section in the office. The clerk in charge of this section receives bulk returns from the districts at regular intervals of wagons on hand and wagon requirements.

    1950 February, “Crewe Divisional Control Room”, in Railway Magazine, page 115

    Rustu failed to collect a Whitehead corner, Shawcross saw his effort blocked and Crouch was on hand to bundle over the line from three yards out.

    2011 September 29, Tom Rostance, “Stoke 2 - 1 Besiktas”, in BBC Sport

    She was on hand again in March when the EU gave €7.4bn (£6.3bn) to Egypt’s abusive dictator, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, partly to curb migrant flows.

    2024 May 4, Simon Tisdall, “Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen, the double act that is steering the EU ever rightwards”, in The Observer, →ISSN

    Synonyms: at hand, handy, to hand

Synonyms & antonyms

prepositional phraseAvailable; ready; in stock.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivereadily available

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*anahandijaz
  2. Old Englishonhende“on hand, demanding attention”
  3. Middle English*onhande
  4. Englishon hand

From Middle English *onhande, onhende, from Old English onhende (“on hand, demanding attention”), from Proto-Germanic *anahandijaz. Equivalent to on- + hand. Cognate with Icelandic áhendur (“within reach”). Compare offhand.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek πρόχειρος
  • πρόχειρος (prókheiros)available
Catalan a mà
  • a màavailable
Chinese Mandarin 手頭 /手头
  • 手頭 /手头 (shǒutóu)available
Finnish käytettävissä, saatavilla
  • käytettävissäavailable
  • saatavillaavailable
  • käsilläavailable
German zur Hand, vorhanden
  • zur Handavailable
  • vorhandenavailable
Japanese 手元に
  • 手元に (temoto ni)available
Polish pod ręką, na podorędziu
  • pod rękąavailable
  • na podorędziuavailable
Portuguese em mãos
  • em mãosavailable
Russian в распоряже́нии, в нали́чии
  • в распоряже́нии (v rasporjažénii)available
  • в нали́чии (v nalíčii)available
  • под руко́й (pod rukój)available
  • на рука́х (na rukáx)available
Spanish a mano
  • a manoavailable
Swedish till hands, tillgänglig
  • till handsavailable
  • tillgängligavailable
Welsh gerllaw
  • gerllawavailable
Cite this entry
APA

on hand. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20hand

MLA

“on hand.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20hand. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on hand,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20hand.

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