change hands

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change hands (third-person singular simple present changes hands, present participle changing hands, simple past and past participle changed hands)

1. (idiomatic) To become the property of someone else; to be bought or sold.

   Synonym: trade hands

   The food got a lot worse after the restaurant changed hands.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 210:

     The line has since changed hands several times, and is now to re-open as a preserved railway (a railway for leisure only), running vintage diesels and electrics, but with the aim of restoring steam.

• change hand