money or an object given in or as in a charitable gesture; -- also used of government disbursements to individuals for welfare; as, government hand-outs to welfare clients.

a printed circular distributed gratis, usually for political or advertising purposes.

a printed statement distributed, usually to the news media.

an announcement distributed to members of the press in order to supplement or replace an oral presentation

A press release; prepared material given to news people in the hope that it will be printed without change or that it will be helpful in preparing news stories hard news; important news; straight news reporting without interpretation or background material.

A handout is something given freely or distributed gratis (without compensation). It can refer to materials handed out for presentation purposes or to a charitable gift, among other things.