Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - handle

~1 v 1 »DEAL WITH STH« a) to deal with a difficult situation or problem  (She couldn't handle the pressures of her new job.) b) to deal with something by doing what is necessary  (My secretary will handle all the details..) 2 »DEAL WITH SB« to deal with people or behave towards them in a particular way, especially to get what you want  (She's very good at handling difficult customers. | handle yourself (=control your behaviour))  (advice on how to handle yourself in an interview) 3 »HOLD« to pick up, touch, or feel something with your hands  (When the children handle the kittens it makes the mother cat restless.) 4 »CONTROL WITH YOUR HANDS« a) to control the movement of a vehicle, tool etc  (The windsurfer handled her board with great skill.) b) handle well/badly etc to be easy or difficult to drive or control  (The car handles well, even on wet roads.) 5 »IN CHARGE OF« to be in charge of  (Ms Brown handles the company's accounts.) 6 »MACHINES/SYSTEMS« to have the power, equipment, or systems that are necessary to deal with a particular amount of work, number of people etc  (The computers are capable of handling massive amounts of data.) 7 »BUY/SELL« to buy, sell, or deal with goods or services in business or trade  (Bennet was charged with handling stolen goods.) ~2 n 1 the part of a door, drawer, window etc that you use for opening it 2 the part of an object that you use for holding it  (a knife with an ivory handle) 3 get a handle on to start to understand a person, situation etc  (It's difficult to get a handle on exactly how this law will affect us.) 4 informal a name used by someone, especially by a user of cb radios  (- see also fly off the handle fly1 (19))