secondhand

Etymology

adj

  1. (of goods) Not new; previously owned and used by another.
  2. (of a dealer) Dealing in such merchandise.
  3. (figurative) Indirect; from a secondary source; not firsthand.
    So nearly every name comes from a second hand source. The exception to this rule has been the vigilantes themselves. Rube Mathis and Jack Wells, both admitted to participating, and Mathis identified his brother. 2013, Bruce Crow, A Land of Strangers: Cane Creek Tennessee's Mormon Massacre and its Tragic Effects on the People Who Lived There
    However, Partridge’s information is second-hand, and requires verification. 2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At `Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 60
    The relation of Tristram's death is thus distanced from the narrative to which it belongs, and it is also distanced in that we do not see it happen with our own eyes, but hear of it by a second-hand report which introduces it incidentally, not for its own sake. 2014, Jill Mann, Life in Words: Essays on Chaucer, the Gawain-Poet, and Malory
  4. (of cigarette or cigar smoke) Inhaled from the air near someone else smoking.
    exposure to secondhand smoke from cigarette-smoking colleagues

noun

  1. Secondhand goods (especially clothes) collectively.
    Childrenswear is now the fastest growing sector of secondhand. […] The huge increase in the market for childrenswear shows another way in which older generations are getting into secondhand. 2023-03-12, Lauren Cochrane, “Cheap, cool and kind to nature: how secondhand became UK fashion’s main attraction”, in The Observer

adv

  1. In a used or previously-owned condition.
    It was almost an article of faith with McEwen never to buy new if he could buy secondhand. 1996, Peter Golding, Black Jack McEwen: Political Gladiator, page 50
    He glanced back at the Jeep, which he'd bought secondhand a dozen years ago and now, fifteen years old, was gaining on "classic" status. 2004, Ruth Doan MacDougall, Henrietta Snow, page 47
  2. Indirectly.

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/secondhand), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.