Word.ws English Dictionary

had one's hands full

had one's hands full is the simple past and past participle of have one's hands full.

Meaning of have one's hands full

Verb

have one's hands full (third-person singular simple present has one's hands full, present participle having one's hands full, simple past and past participle had one's hands full)

  1. (idiomatic) To be busy or thoroughly preoccupied.
    • He already has his hands full with two kids and a full-time job, yet he still makes time to volunteer.

Questions about had one's hands full

What is had one's hands full the simple past and past participle of?
Had one's hands full is the simple past and past participle of have one's hands full.

Words near had one's hands full in the dictionary

  1. had one's fingers on the pulse
  2. had one's guard up
  3. had one's hand in the till
  4. had one's hand out
  5. had one's handful
  6. had one's hands full
  7. had one's head read
  8. had one's head up one's ass
  9. had one's heart in
  10. had one's heart in one's boots
  11. had one's heart in the right place

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: had one's hands full (page history and authors); have one's hands full (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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