Meaning

An item that is passed along for someone else to use..

Definitions by Sense

1. An item that is passed along for someone else to use.
2. (especially) A piece of clothing or other item which has been outgrown by an older sibling and passed down to a younger one.
3. Used or second-hand, passed along by its prior user.
4. (rare) To pass along to someone else.

Example Sentences

Well, I'm willing, I'm able, I'm practically much alive / Well, I'm six-feet-tall, I ain't no hand-me-down

But these routes have always had hand-me-downs that aren't really designed for the job.

1983, 19th of March, Presidential Radio Address by Ronald Reagan I don't want America's recovery and security to be sacrificed on an altar of discredited hand-me-down theories. And if you'll help us, they won't be.

And what costume shall the poor girl wear / To all tomorrow's parties? / A hand-me-down dress from who knows where

The old Pacers have vanished, replaced by a mix of hand-me-down fleets.

“See into life, don’t just look at it” is her [Anne Baxter’s] creditable credo, hand-me-downed from her famous architect grandfather, the late Frank Lloyd Wright.

The carpet was a montage of fade and unfade indicating that when new it had been used in another office—probably Mr. Barlowe’s—and then hand-me-downed when the decorators had cut loose.

The traditional family was poorly adapted to consumption: its raison d’être was rooted in sharing, hand-me-downing, and cooperative endeavor.

Word Forms

• hand-me-downs
• hand-me-on
• hand-me-downing
• hand-me-downed

Synonyms for hand-me-down

Related Words

When Should You Use Hand-me-down?

Use hand-me-down when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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