on hand

• on-hand, onhand

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.

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on hand

1. (idiomatic) Available; ready; in stock.

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

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

     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.

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

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

• hand on