Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Acquired from or through two intermediate sources.
  • adjective Previously used by two other owners.
  • adjective Dealing in merchandise previously used by two other owners.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having been relayed by two intermediate sources.
  • adjective Having had two previous owners.
  • adverb By two intermediates.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective derived from what is primary or original by two intermediate steps
  • adverb by doubly indirect means

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

third +‎ hand

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Examples

  • The heavily redacted text, however, refers to thirdhand information from a source who claimed Monroe's ex-husband, baseball great Joe DiMaggio, offered $25,000 in 1965 for a film that someone else claimed showed Monroe having sex.

    ABC News: Top Stories 2011

  • The heavily redacted text, however, refers to thirdhand information from a source who claimed Monroe's ex-husband, baseball great Joe DiMaggio, offered $25,000 in 1965 for a film that someone else claimed showed Monroe having sex.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • The heavily redacted text, however, refers to thirdhand information from a source who claimed Monroe's ex-husband, baseball great Joe DiMaggio, offered $25,000 in 1965 for a film that someone else claimed showed Monroe having sex.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • The heavily redacted text, however, refers to thirdhand information from a source who claimed Monroe's ex-husband, baseball great Joe DiMaggio, offered $25,000 in 1965 for a film that someone else claimed showed Monroe having sex.

    SFGate: Top News Stories By ALEXANDER WILSON 2011

  • (Bloomberg) - Tobacco smoke contamination lingering on furniture, clothes and other surfaces, dubbed thirdhand smoke, may react with indoor air chemicals to form potential cancer-causing substances, a study found.

    BusinessWeek.com -- 2010

  • And although recent studies have raised the possibility that another source of tobacco exposure known as thirdhand smoke, which involves physical tobacco residue that may remain on the clothing and hair of smokers, could be contributing to the higher cotinine levels among these children, Wilson says that exposure is also unlikely to explain the entire amount recorded in the subjects of her study.

    TIME.com: Top Stories 2010

  • (Bloomberg) - Tobacco smoke contamination lingering on furniture, clothes and other surfaces, dubbed thirdhand smoke, may react with indoor air chemicals to form potential cancer-causing substances, a study found.

    BusinessWeek.com -- 2010

  • Winickoff JF, et al. Beliefs about the health effects of "thirdhand" smoke and home smoking bans.

    All MayoClinic.com Topics 2010

  • All day, I heard stories like this, first-, second- and thirdhand, about the fears and uncertainty that HB 56 has generated--not just among adults but among children, and many of them U.S. citizen children at that.

    Maribel Hastings: HB 56: American Kids Pay The Price Maribel Hastings 2011

  • All day, I heard stories like this, first-, second- and thirdhand, about the fears and uncertainty that HB 56 has generated--not just among adults but among children, and many of them U.S. citizen children at that.

    Maribel Hastings: HB 56: American Kids Pay The Price Maribel Hastings 2011

Comments

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  • Still looking for the person with three hands who started all this nonsense.

    January 25, 2016

  • Another example of why I love you, b.

    January 25, 2016