in the palm of one's hand

English

Prepositional phrase

in the palm of one's hand

1. Being fully controlled or influenced by something.
   • 1983 April 9, Charles Fuller Jr., “Sylvester Sparkles”, in Gay Community News, page 6:

     The vamp melted into his sizzling hit, "Don't Stop," and in a matter of seconds the audience was in the palm of his hand.

   • April 5 2022, Tina Brown, “How Princess Diana’s Dance With the Media Impacted William and Harry”, in Vanity Fair‎^[1]:

     Opinion polls in the wake of the interview showed support for the princess at 92 percent. She had the public in the palm of her hand.

     adapted from the book The Palace Papers, published 2022 by Penguin Books

Translations

to have full control over someone

• Italian: tenere qualcuno in pugno
• Polish: mieć w garści (pl) impf

Further reading

• “in the palm of one's hand”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “have (someone) in the palm of one’s hand”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “in the palm of your hand”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “have someone in the palm of your hand” (US) / “have someone in the palm of your hand” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “in the palm of one's hand”, in Collins English Dictionary.