a handful

handful

Something or someone that is difficult to manage. Joan's daughter is very polite and well-behaved, but her son is a real handful, always getting into trouble. This project seemed easy at first but it has become a real handful, and I'm not sure I'm going to finish by the deadline.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

*a handful

Fig. someone, often a child, who is difficult to deal with. (*Typically: be ~ become ~.) Bobby can be a real handful when he needs a nap.
See also: handful
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • in hopes of
  • in hopes of (something)
  • a credit to (someone or something)
  • credit
  • credit to
  • in the hope that
  • in (high) hopes that
  • get in the act
  • get into the act
  • get into/in the act, to
References in classic literature
"We are a handful of private citizens of America, traveling simply
"We are a handful of private citizens of America, traveling simply for recreation,--and unostentatiously, as becomes our unofficial state--and therefore, we have no excuse to tender for presenting ourselves before your Majesty--"
Grimy sailors came down out of the foretop placidly announcing themselves as "a handful of private citizens of America, traveling simply for recreation and unostentatiously," etc.; the coal passers moved to their duties in the profound depths of the ship, explaining the blackness of their faces and their uncouthness of dress, with the reminder that they were "a handful of private citizens, traveling simply for recreation," etc., and when the cry rang through the vessel at midnight: "EIGHT BELLS!--LARBOARD WATCH, TURN OUT!" the larboard watch came gaping and stretching out of their den, with the everlasting formula: "Aye-aye, sir!
I never heard a sailor proclaiming himself as a handful of American citizens traveling for recreation, but I wished he might trip and fall overboard, and so reduce his handful by one individual, at least.
The Innocents Abroad
The spectacle was often repeated with great applause, till on one occasion a courtier, bent on mischief, took from his pocket a handful of nuts and threw them upon the stage.
Fables
So she made a fire on her hearth, and that it might burn the quicker, she lighted it with a handful of straw.
Fairy Tales
Gathering up a handful of dust and scattering it in the air, he slowly and solemnly pronounced some words that sounded like a charm, the children looking on in awe-struck silence:--
Sylvie and Bruno
He noted the extreme care which the woman took that none of the matter should touch her hands, and once when a particle spattered upon one of her fingers he saw her plunge the member into a vessel of water and quickly rub the tiny stain away with a handful of leaves.
If the woman would only leave her work for an instant he could drop down, gather up a handful, and be back in the tree again before she drew three breaths.
Tarzan of the Apes
But no, these must be only a handful of scoundrels.
War and Peace
A strange name wakes up memories; the printed words scent the smoky atmosphere of to-day faintly, with the subtle and penetrating perfume as of land breezes breathing through the starlight of bygone nights; a signal fire gleams like a jewel on the high brow of a sombre cliff; great trees, the advanced sentries of immense forests, stand watchful and still over sleeping stretches of open water; a line of white surf thunders on an empty beach, the shallow water foams on the reefs; and green islets scattered through the calm of noonday lie upon the level of a polished sea, like a handful of emeralds on a buckler of steel.
Tales of Unrest
Here, surrounded by a handful of the faithful, the hekkador of the ancient faith, who had once been served by millions of vassals and dependents, dispensed the spiritual words among the half dozen nations of Barsoom that still clung tenaciously to their false and discredited religion.
Beyond were a handful of guards, laughing and talking over one of their incomprehensible Barsoomian games.
A handful of thern warriors stood just behind the little party.
Warlord of Mars
While a handful of the candidates managed to get straight A's, most schools recorded a high number of students with A- and Bs.The majority of all-time academic giants in Nyeri, Lakipia, Kirinyaga and Murang'a did not feature in the list of schools that produced top performers in the country.
Shock as academic giants in Central region attain lower grades