Handover
noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The transference of authority, control, power or knowledge from one agency to another, or from one state to another.
"The emergency regulations ordinance, created by British authorities to break up port strikes in 1922, had not been used for over half a century, and never since the handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997."
- 2 act of relinquishing property or authority etc wordnet
- 3 The information passed on in such a case.
"The daytime team got an urgent handover from the afterhours department."
- 4 the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel.
- 5 the process of transferring satellite control responsibility from one earth station to another without loss or interruption of service.
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- 6 The transfer of goods from the dealer to the purchaser, often of illegal goods.
"Haz sits in the trailer for 10 hours straight, eyes trained on the patrons. If he sees the makings of a drug deal or a fight, he notifies the club’s in-house security by walkie-talkie. It amazes him how indiscreet drug dealers can be—with the bulges in their socks and their melodramatic handovers—despite the presence of security guards."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The emergency regulations ordinance, created by British authorities to break up port strikes in 1922, had not been used for over half a century, and never since the handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997."
Etymology
Deverbal from hand over.
Related phrases
More for "handover"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.