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Come in handy   /kəm ɪn hˈændi/   Listen
Come in handy

verb
1.
Be useful for a certain purpose.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Come in handy" Quotes from Famous Books



... to roll cigarettes out in Glacier Park. Not that she smoked them, of course, but she said she might as well know how. There was no knowing when it would come in handy. And when she wishes to calm herself she reaches instinctively for what Bill used to call, strangely, ...
— Tish, The Chronicle of Her Escapades and Excursions • Mary Roberts Rinehart

... though they are scarcely as important as those already mentioned. Reasoning sometimes starts with the observation of P, which means something that might prove useful on some future occasion. Your attention is caught by these prominent words in an advertisement, "$100 a week!" That might come in handy on some future occasion, and you look further to see how all that money can be attached to S, yourself on some future occasion. You soon learn that you have only to secure subscriptions for a certain magazine, {478} and that income may be yours. ...
— Psychology - A Study Of Mental Life • Robert S. Woodworth

... the road's a heap worse from there on than what it was behind 'em. They'll buy new tires—you take it from me they will. And," he added virtuously, "you'll do 'em no harm whatever. If you got a car, you need tires, and a new one'll always come in handy sometime. ...
— Casey Ryan • B. M. Bower

... really too bad!" exclaimed Billy, immediately sympathizing with any one who knew, the pangs of hunger. "Sure, we'll invite you to stay with us to lunch. Luckily my policy of always providing a little extra will come in handy, for we can fit you out with ...
— The Boy Scouts with the Motion Picture Players • Robert Shaler

... settlements and put them on their guard, maybe I shall be coming back again, and, in that case, you know Jack Pearson's rifle is at your disposal. You may as well tote this stag up to the house. You won't be doing much hunting just for the present, and the meat may come in handy." ...
— True to the Old Flag - A Tale of the American War of Independence • G. A. Henty

... I might as well buy a little sugar and flour and such," he said. "Always come in handy, they do. Send 'em up when ...
— Mary-'Gusta • Joseph C. Lincoln

... haven't forgotten how to shoot in all these x years!" he commented, stooping to examine the spoor. "That may come in handy later!" ...
— Darkness and Dawn • George Allan England

... we get a lot of No Privacy complaints from guests about the SHA return-air vents. Spatial Housing Authority requires them every 12 feet but sometimes they come in handy, especially with certain guests. They're about waist-high and we had to kneel down to see what the mech was up ...
— The Love of Frank Nineteen • David Carpenter Knight

... Honoria answered.—She was beginning to recover her nonchalance of manner and indolent slowness of speech. "I lose no opportunity of acquiring odds and ends of information. One never knows when they may come in handy." ...
— The History of Sir Richard Calmady - A Romance • Lucas Malet

... said a word, Bert, and if it's none of my business, you can tell me so—but if a couple of these yellow-backs would come in handy to you just now, they're yours and you can toss 'em back to me any old time ...
— Branded • Francis Lynde

... Jet and I will go for dinner, and meet you at the station. Can you lend the boy a revolver; one more weapon may come in handy in case of a fight, and unless those fellows have already made a change of base I reckon we shall ...
— Messenger No. 48 • James Otis

... thought them important, and said: 'It seems to me this resembles the engine and wings of the James Beckett invention I heard so much about. But I didn't know it was far enough ahead yet to be in use. A pity the inventor was killed. He might have come in handy. ...
— Everyman's Land • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

... to go with you," Bud declared. "I'm next thing to broke, but I've got a lot of muscle I can cash in on the deal. And I know the open. And I can rock a gold-pan and not spill out all the colors, if there is any—and whatever else I know is liable to come in handy, and what I don't know I ...
— Cabin Fever • B. M. Bower

... on the receipt of this jocose instrument, immediately communicated with their once magnificent client, who laconically instructed them to put it away in a very safe place as it might come in handy some time. To their own and to his subsequent surprise, they DID put it away in a safe place, but forgot all about it until he walked in upon them fifteen years afterwards and revealed himself as the great and only ...
— Mr. Bingle • George Barr McCutcheon

... found what seemed to be a good place to tie up for the night. A small boat, called the dinghy, or dinky, was trailed behind. This might come in handy whenever they wanted to go ashore while the motor-boat was anchored; or one of the boys might wish to use it for fishing, gathering oysters, or shooting shore birds, ...
— The Outdoor Chums on the Gulf • Captain Quincy Allen

... over" quite well I liked her best before she found her man and her Robinson Crusoe adventures among the islands of Ontario, and was giving back chat to the little foreman in the factory. Here she is a pure delight; and in these days, when a knowledge of the American language may come in handy at any moment, this amiable romance may well be recommended as an attractive manual of ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Nov. 14, 1917 • Various

... the bows of the boat was a small swivel-gun, and all the bluejackets with cutlasses and pistols. Besides the lieutenant and Jack, there was the coxswain, and there were some half-dozen long pikes which, as the latter observed, would come in handy, if they had a fight with another boat or had to attack a fort, but for boarding he would not give a rush for them. The ebb-tide rushed past the boat dark and smooth, but with swirling eddies, which showed the strength ...
— The Three Midshipmen • W.H.G. Kingston



Words linked to "Come in handy" :   be



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