Word.ws English Dictionary

had the cards in one's hands

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

Meaning of have the cards in one's hands

Verb

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

  1. To have the initiative for, or the means of, success; to be in a position to control the outcome.
    • Gogs bloud Iacke, haue we the cards in our hands?
      Lets take it vpon vs while we haue it.1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I
    Synonyms:
    have the cards

Questions about had the cards in one's hands

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

Words near had the cards in one's hands in the dictionary

  1. had the ball in one's court
  2. had the best of it
  3. had the biscuit
  4. had the blues
  5. had the cards
  6. had the cards in one's hands
  7. had the dirts with
  8. had the drains up
  9. had the drop on
  10. had the first idea
  11. had the floor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: had the cards in one's hands (page history and authors); have the cards in one's hands (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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