The substance of the deal came together over the last month, and the companies had a handshake agreement a week ago, the source said.

Republicans were caught off guard by the move, and thought they had a handshake agreement with Democrats on the spending bill.

But Byrd said the arrangement changed to a handshake agreement about three years ago.

Thayer was looking for a designer and their relationship began with a handshake agreement.

This time it was more to do with not following through on an old-fashioned handshake agreement between mates.

The handshake agreement must be followed by a formal vote before the end of the month, when fiscal year 2011 ends.

There was no formal contract, just a handshake agreement.

Ryan, Minnesota's general manager since 1994, is about to reach the end of a two-year handshake agreement with the team.

Carter and Motta had a handshake agreement that was renewed each year.

The negotiators reached a handshake agreement at 5:30 a.m.

Murdoch was furious, having considered the handshake agreement in Zurich final.

Had the brothers closed their handshake agreement with Ray, these royalties would have doubled.

"Eventually we agreed to split the difference, and we both walked away happy with a handshake agreement," he said.

Politis reportedly made a handshake agreement with Williams to this effect years prior.

Mayor Murphy has been aggressive in his behind-the-scenes efforts, and they could lead to a handshake agreement soon.

Of course, a player's not living up to a handshake agreement is common in the vicious agent game and usually is no big deal.

Pawlikowski said the two sides reached a handshake agreement on the terms of the deal in mid-September.

"A handshake agreement is not worth the paper it's printed on," Stile reminded him.

Belichick also said that he has a handshake agreement with Kraft, but no signed contract yet.

Mr. Israel said he had a "handshake agreement" with the budget office, which still must formally announce the deal.

It had been, as it were, a handshake agreement, not worth the paper it was written on.

Daily made a handshake agreement with Holloway that any revenue produced by the film would be divided equally between the two of them.

Tonight the Senate Republicans reached a handshake agreement with some Democrats to add $727 million for the environment.

In a handshake agreement, the brothers would also receive an overriding royalty of 1% on the gross sales.

It was a simple handshake deal between two old friends.

For that to happen, a handshake deal almost certainly would have to be in place this week.

Even if they get a handshake deal today, you have to put the whole thing together and that's probably not going to happen before midnight.

State officials aren't even sure if it was set down in writing, as opposed to being a "handshake deal."

But, a few weeks later, a handshake deal was reached regarding the sale of the company.

They taught him the importance of quality service, fresh ingredients and the handshake deal.

A handshake deal is a verbal commitment to a transaction.

Republicans insist Obama made a handshake deal on taxes, then tried to change the terms.

This handshake deal still must be ratified by both owners and players.

"We had a handshake deal," said one person on the Bertelsmann team.

Now a handshake deal gone bad may prove to be the company's undoing.

The king of the handshake deal doesn't refuse to shake hands, but he prefers not to.

Even if a handshake deal were reached soon, it would take at least another week to draft and enact the budget.

On the professional circuit, this can translate to anything from a handshake deal to a 30-page document.

The owner made a handshake deal, but called a few days later to say her children wouldn't let her sell.

"We believed we had a handshake deal last summer" to change the labor agreement, he said.

There’s a sense among many observers that a simple handshake deal between two savvy operators in a room is all that’s needed.

Vandeweghe has denied that there was any handshake deal with Harris.

B agrees to the business merger by handshake deal.

They reneged on a handshake deal and, simply speaking, that's not right."

If yours was a handshake deal, you may have to fend off the lien in court.

He has got by on word-of-mouth and handshake deals.

At the time Shaw was quoted as saying "We had a handshake deal that he wasn't going to trade me."

But on Broadway, where handshake deals are still typical business practice, it hardly raised an eyebrow.

On the basis of a handshake deal, Cohen cemented a partnership that would last for decades.