reach-me-down
Americannoun
noun
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(often plural) a garment that is cheaply ready-made or second-hand
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( as modifier )
reach-me-down finery
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(plural) trousers
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(modifier) not original; derivative; stale
a stock of reach-me-down ideas
Etymology
Origin of reach-me-down
First recorded in 1860–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
The wise argument we hear being urged in a railway-carriage or at a dinner-table is merely an intellectual reach-me-down purchased at a book-stall for the modest price of one penny.
From The Curse of Education by Harold Edward Gorst
A drama conceived in this reach-me-down fashion will scarcely have the breath of life in it.
From Play-Making A Manual of Craftsmanship by William Archer
To-day, my friend, thou art a reach-me-down, And if I tossed thee through the casement yonder Where wouldst thou end thy days?
From L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
