han·dle / ˈhandl/ • v. [tr.] 1. feel or manipulate with the hands: heavy paving slabs can be difficult to handle people who handle food. ∎  drive or control (a vehicle): where did you learn to handle a boat? ∎  [intr.] (of a vehicle) respond in a specified manner when being driven or controlled: a roadworthy bicycle that also handles well off the pavement.2. manage (a situation or problem): a lawyer's ability to handle a case properly. ∎ inf. deal with (someone or something): I don't think I could handle it if they turned me down. ∎  have the resources to cope with: more orders than I can handle. ∎  control or manage commercially: the advertising company that is handling the account. ∎  (handle oneself) conduct oneself in a specified manner: he handled himself with considerable aplomb. ∎  (handle oneself) inf. defend oneself physically or verbally: I can handle myself in a fight.3. process: the airport expects to handle almost 250,000 passengers this weekend.• n. 1. the part by which a thing is held, carried, or controlled: the pan features helpful lifting handles. ∎  (a handle on) fig. a means of understanding, controlling, or approaching a person or situation: it'll give people some kind of handle on these issues get a handle on your life.2. inf. the name of a person or place: that's some handle for a baby.3. [in sing.] inf. the total amount of money bet over a particular time (typically at a casino) or at a particular sporting event: the monthly handle of a couple of casinos in Las Vegas.DERIVATIVES: han·dle·a·bil·i·ty / ˌhandl-əˈbilitē/ n.han·dle·a·ble adj.han·dled adj. [in comb.] a rope-handled canvas bag. han·dle·less adj.

handle A means of uniquely identifying an object, or a property of an object. In programming, a handle is a pointer to a pointer to a variable. This level of indirection can simplify the passing of references to the variable between parts of the program. In a graphical environment, a handle is a marker associated with an image. One very common form is as a small square in the border of a window: different handles may be used to drag the window, so changing its position, to reshape the window, so changing its aspect ratio, or to rescale the window, so changing the size of its contents. See also bottom-up parsing.

handle sb. OE. handle, -la = MLG. hantel, f. hand HAND; see -LE1.
So handle vb. Late OE. handlian feel with the hands, treat of, corr. to OS. handlon, OHG. hantalōn (G. handeln), ON. họndla seize, treat; see -LE3.