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
"No, but I have the reach-me-down trousers of an inferior quality to those worn by the village postman."
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, October 27, 1920 by Seaman, Owen, Sir
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
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 Archer, William
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.
