Meaning
A garment or other item passed on after being used by someone else, especially clothing handed from an older child to a younger one; by extension anything second-hand, inherited or unoriginal rather than new. American in origin and standard there, though now widely understood; works as both noun and adjective ('hand-me-down clothes'). Concrete and homely; the figurative use can sound affectionate or faintly dismissive depending on context. Regional use: American English (clothing origin).
Origin
The word is simply the verb phrase 'hand down' with 'me' inserted, naming the domestic economy of passing outgrown clothes along within a family at a time when clothing was expensive and built to last. Merriam-Webster gives 1826 as the first known use, and etymonline dates the adjective to 1826 with the noun following by 1874, so the expression is solidly nineteenth-century American. The British counterpart 'reach-me-down', recorded in the early 1860s, was applied to cheap ready-made clothes taken straight from a shop rack. Once the literal clothing sense was established, the word extended naturally to ideas, styles and equipment that are second-hand rather than fresh.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- hand-me-down (adjective)
- hand-me-downs (plural noun)
- reach-me-down (British counterpart)
Usage Examples
- As the youngest of four, she grew up wearing hand-me-downs that had already survived three older siblings.
- The lab still runs on hand-me-down equipment donated by a university that upgraded years ago.
- His love of jazz was a hand-me-down from his parents' record collection.