1.
move one can make; recourse; available countermeasure
A course of action still open in a difficult situation. Taken from board games, where 手 is a move and 打つ is to play a stone or piece, so the word frames a problem as a game position with moves left or none.
Nearly always used in a small set of patterns rather than freely, and most often in the negative — the phrase 打つ手がない is far more frequent than the positive statement.
Common patterns
- 打つ手がない: to have no options left
- 打つ手を考える: to think about what to do
- 次の打つ手: the next move
- 打つ手が遅い: to be too slow to act