to hand

Type slower, man.

In one place you wrote "hang", but it should be "to hand".

It means in a readily accessible place.

The more common expression is near/close to hand, which means exactly what it sounds like: keeping something sufficiently close and unencumbered that it's rapidly accessible.

Knightofsportsto hand

within reach

CJ

I've never ever heard to hand during casual speech. It sounds weird.

"He kept the pistol to hand on the fold tarp on top of the cart."

Is the "to" a preposition or an infinitive marker in this sentence?

Knightofsports I've never ever heard to hand during casual speech. It sounds weird.

Right. It sounds literary to me. In casual speech people usually say 'within reach' — at least the people that I know.

CJ

AnonymousIs the "to" a preposition or an infinitive marker in this sentence?

preposition

I have seen an alternate form "at hand".

CJ

Thank you, CJ, for your useful reply.

Anonymous"He kept the pistol to hand on the fold tarp on top of the cart."Is the "to" a preposition or an infinitive marker in this sentence?

"to hand" is an idiomatic phrase, but grammatically I think "to" is a preposition and "hand" is a noun.