Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - handful

(handfuls) 1. A handful of people or things is a small number of them. He surveyed the handful of customers at the bar... N-SING: usu N of n 2. A handful of something is the amount of it that you can hold in your hand. She scooped up a handful of sand and let it trickle through her fingers. N-COUNT: usu N of n 3. If you say that someone, especially a child, is a handful, you mean that they are difficult to control. (INFORMAL) Zara can be a handful sometimes. N-SING