A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

have something handed on a plate • have
 something on one’s plate
have something handed on a plate —achieve or get smth. with
too little effort: Car factories of Japan will have a new market
handed to them on a plate.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase have one’s lunch handed to one— be outperformed and
shown up by smb. better: Certainly to have your lunch handed
to you by a thirteen year old would not be something you
would want to advertise to your peers.
have something on one’s plate —have a lot of things or prob-
lems to deal with: I can’t possibly take a holiday at the
moment; I’ve got far too much on my plate.
have something in one’s brain • have something on
the brain
have something in one’s brain —(also: keep something in one’s
brain) retain smth. in one’s memory: I had the great benefit
of having had them [script lines] in my brain for a few years.
have something on the brain —(sl.) be obsessed with an idea,
etc.: He blames everything that goes wrong on the taxes. He’s
got taxation on the brain.
See also: have one’s mind on something / have something on
one’s mind.
have something in one’s hands • have something
on one’s hands
have something in one’s hands —
1
. be in possession of smth.;
have smth. in reserve: After paying the debt in full, with the
accumulated interest, he still had in his hands about $
1
,000.
2. have complete control of smth.: I thought long and hard
about how I could introduce you to the teachers who had my
fate in their hands.
Note: The expression does not fully correlate in meaning with
the phrase have something in hand—
1
. have smth. under con-
trol: There was a little rioting, but the police soon had the sit-
uation in hand. 2. = have something in one’s hands 
1
: The money
question had also to be gone into: what he still had in hand;
what balance lay in the London bank.
have something on one’s hands —said of smth. remaining
under one’s care as a burden or unwelcome responsibility:
When the house is sold I will have the furniture on my hands.