When used with the preposition 'con' (habérselas con), to have to deal with, confront, or cope with a person, obstacle, or difficult situation.
To manage or handle a difficult circumstance; to contend with something onerous or unpleasant.
2.
SpainLatin Americaneutralgrammatical
As a clitic combination with the auxiliary 'haber' (e.g., habérselas + past participle), to indicate that someone has had, obtained, or been the recipient of an action affecting an object referred to by the clitics; a syntactic form used to express that an action was performed with reference to particular direct or indirect objects.
Used in spoken or written contexts to indicate that someone took, gave, hid, or otherwise dealt with something (the precise meaning depends on the accompanying clitic pronouns and participle).
3.
SpainLatin Americainformal
To manage, get by, or make do (similar to 'to cope' or 'to fend for oneself'), often implying resourcefulness in difficult circumstances.
Examples:
ES: La Srta. Mullins vendió, después de habérselas comprado a Hillcrist.
EN: Site sale by Miss Mullins of the first, John Hillcrist of the second.
ES: Al tener que habérselas con la cruda realidad, las falsedades caen pronto.
EN: When you come up against cold hard facts, the phony things are shown up pretty quick.
ES: Podría habérselas dado.
EN: I suppose I should have given it to him but ..
ES: Debe habérselas llevado con él cuando decidió largarse.
EN: He must have taken them with him when he chose to beat it.
ES: Deberías habérselas dado.
EN: You had to send them back.
ES: Pero Austin pudo habérselas llevado al despacho.
EN: But Austin may have taken them to the office. We'd better check there, too.
ES: El tipo de crimen... muestra que hay que habérselas con un maniaco homicida.
EN: The nature of this deed points to the fact that it was committed by a homicidal maniac.
ES: ¿Y no pudo habérselas dicho Clevenger para que Harry... te las dijera a ti?
EN: As far as you know, maybe, Clevenger told Harry to tell you all of this.
ES: Entonces me las llevaré, pero deberían habérselas quedado.
EN: I'll keep the letters then. You should have taken them.
ES: Pues bastaba con habérselas prestado pero...
EN: To lend her them should be enough.
ES: No pueden habérselas llevado a todas.
EN: They can't have taken them all.
ES: Nunca se transforma nada con semejantes procedimientos... en caso de habérselas con una sociedad armoniosa... que sepa administrar su fuerza;
EN: (Such methods would obviously never shake up anything... in a harmonious society... that was capable of controlling all its forces;
ES: Los peces han desarrollado sorprendentes formas de habérselas en este variado mundo submarino.
EN: Fish have developed some surprising ways of finding their way about in this varied underwater world.
ES: Puede habérselas llevado.
EN: She might have taken them.
ES: Y estas muertes de las que me acusa de habérselas ocultado, yo, que le serví de buzón durante 20 años, sin pedirle ni un centavo.
EN: "How dare he suggest I concealed their death "when I've been his unpaid errand boy for 20 years!
ES: Puede habérselas llevado sólo para disimular su motivación real.
EN: Perhaps it was taking it to distract us of the true motive.
ES: Deben habérselas llevado.
EN: They must have took them.
ES: Podrías habérselas dejado.
EN: You could have let them keep it.
ES: Aunque no debería habérselas mostrado a mi padre.
EN: You didn't need to show my father. Me?
ES: El servicio de limpieza debe habérselas llevado.