get a grip on

1. Also, have a grip on. Obtain mastery or control over something or someone. For example, Get a grip on yourself or the reporters will give you a hard time, or, as Arthur Conan Doyle put it in Sherlock Holmes (1894): “I have a grip on the essential facts of the case.” This expression transfers a firm physical hold to emotional or intellectual control. [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

It’s a key sequence in the script, yet we can’t get a grip on whether it’s horrific luck or a game of six-dimensional chess.

From Los Angeles Times

Post Office campaigner and former sub-postmistress Jo Hamilton says the government is now under pressure "to get a grip on redress" because Sir Wyn Williams is "on it".

From BBC

Nandy added that BBC leadership had to "get a grip on it" following the live Glastonbury broadcast of punk-duo band Bob Vylan.

From BBC

"The government must get a grip on spending aid in the UK," she said.

From BBC

Last October, the government announced that ministers would take a direct role in overseeing the building of the line to try to "get a grip" on rising costs.

From BBC