Crossword Genius

Tense when you hand over (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

present

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'hand over' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'tense when you' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'tense' is 'esent' which is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for present that I've seen before include "See 12" , "something not seen under a tree every day" , "gift > offer" , "Repents (anag.)" , "Reveal < a gift" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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