handles

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of handle.

   The new cabinet doors arrived without any handles attached.

   Workers replaced the broken handles on every gym door.

   Note

   The plural reaches well beyond door pulls and cup grips, because every meaning of the noun can multiply. Handles can be tools or pretexts for a purpose, or the feel of different fabrics compared by touch. In slang, handles are the names people go by over radio or online. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb, so context decides whether it names objects or an action.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of handle.

   The new manager handles every dispute calmly.

   This software handles thousands of requests each second.

   Note

   The verb form that goes with he, she, it or a singular noun: the manager handles, the software handles. Every meaning behind it is transitive, so handles nearly always takes a direct object, such as a tool, a crowd, a dispute or a theme in a novel. When the sense is "deal with in a specified way," an adverb usually follows the object: she handles criticism gracefully.

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