hand-me-down: Meaning and Definition of

hand-me-down

Pronunciation: (hand'mē-doun", han'-), [key]
— n.
  1. an article of clothing passed on to another person after being used, outgrown, etc.: The younger children wore the hand-me-downs of the older ones.
  2. any item not new that is or can be used again: Our office furniture was a collection of hand-me-downs.
—adj.
  1. passed along for further use by others: some hand-me-down clothes from my older brother.
  2. borrowed or adapted from other sources; derivative: a street full of hand-me-down architecture.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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