🗓️ Idiom: Hand over the Reins (verb)
💬 Meaning
- To give control or responsibility to someone else.
- To step back and let another person take charge.
🧠 Example Sentences
- The founder handed over the reins to a younger manager after 30 years.
- A good leader knows when it is time to hand over the reins.
- She handed over the reins of the project to her colleague.
🏛️ Origin
The phrase comes from horse riding. The reins are used to control a horse, so handing them over means giving control to another rider. Over time, it became a saying for passing leadership or responsibility to someone else.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
When the director retired, she decided to ________ over the reins to her deputy.
Answer
hand
2. Choose the correct meaning of “hand over the reins”:
a) To take control away from someone
b) To give control or responsibility to someone else
c) To stop working completely
Answer
b) To give control or responsibility to someone else
3. Change the sentence using “hand over the reins”:
“The manager gave control of the team to her assistant.”
Answer
The manager handed over the reins to her assistant.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
📚 Learning Resources
👉 Management and Leadership Idioms
👉 Business English Idioms List
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Rob is a CELTA qualified English teacher with 15 years of international experience. He has a BSc and PGDip from Loughborough and St Andrews universities in the UK. He has taught in Thailand and Saudi Arabia and now works with professionals worldwide.
