reach-me-down

American  

[reech-mee-doun] / ˈritʃ miˌdaʊn /

noun

British.

1. hand-me-down.

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reach-me-down British  

noun

1. 1. (often plural) a garment that is cheaply ready-made or second-hand

   2. ( as modifier )

      reach-me-down finery

2. (plural) trousers

3. (modifier) not original; derivative; stale

   a stock of reach-me-down ideas

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Etymology

Origin of reach-me-down

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

All this might have created a reach-me-down revolutionary.

From The Guardian • Jan. 11, 2013

Yet sentence after sentence in the dialogue is so well-worn that it's threadbare: a patchwork of salt-of-the-earth, reach-me-down cockney phrases.

From The Guardian • Jul. 30, 2011

Mr. Cornelius Gosling-Green, M.P., proved to be a tall, drooping, melancholy creature, with "Dundreary" whiskers, reach-me-down suit of thick cloth, wrong kind of tie, thickish boots, and no presence.

From Driftwood Spars The Stories of a Man, a Boy, a Woman, and Certain Other People Who Strangely Met Upon the Sea of Life by Wren, Percival Christopher

Get it into your heads—Here was a prosperous reach-me-down person of the sort you will find on any political platform, standing for Parliament or seconding a vote of thanks.

From Foe-Farrell by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

As he did so the eternal feminine rejoiced at his tall, straight, cleanly handsomeness, in spite of the reach-me-down which clothed it.

From The Sailor by Snaith, J. C.