Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A hand for marking seconds on a clock or watch.
  • Received from another or a previous owner or user.
  • Not new; having been used or worn: as, a second-hand book; second-hand clothes.
  • Dealing in second-hand goods: as, a secondhand bookseller.
  • noun Matter derived from previous users.

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

  • adjective Alternative spelling of secondhand.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • He cleaned the grave out, procured some reddle and water, brushed the bricks over with it, and informed the person that he had a most excellent _second-hand grave to sell as good as new_, and if she thought it would suit her poor departed friend, would let her have it at half the price of a new one: this was too good an offer to be rejected; but Jemmy found, on measuring the coffin, that his second-hand grave was too short, and consequently was obliged to dig the earth away from the end of the grave and beat the bricks in with a beetle, before it would admit its new tenant.

    The English Spy An Original Work Characteristic, Satirical, And Humorous. Comprising Scenes And Sketches In Every Rank Of Society, Being Portraits Drawn From The Life Robert Cruikshank 1828

  • There should be a burka tax; tax the buying of burkas, tax the income of husbands of women who wear burkas; impose annual licensing fees on burkas along with number plates – paid for by the husbands; track burkas with street cameras and impose a burka surcharge tax on burka wearers entering public places where people may be traumatised by second-hand burka claustrophobia.

    No burka ban in Canada « Anglican Samizdat 2010

  • The dismantling of a second-hand bookstore; also, zombies

    My Life, And Other Adventures karenhealey 2010

  • My friends had a lovely second-hand bookstore called City Basement Books.

    For some reason there were a buttload of books with unicorns on the cover. karenhealey 2010

  • On Saturday, I helped take apart a second-hand bookstore.

    It's the little things. karenhealey 2010

  • Today I tried a trawl through the bookshops of Belfast, but was very disappointed; lean pickings in Waterstone's and Forbidden Planet, and most of the second-hand shops have gone; every single one of the cluster of about half a dozen from Harry Hall's in Smithfield down to the arcade in North Street has closed.

    President Kaczyński burkesworks 2010

  • They were easy enough to acquire second-hand, and I read them on my travels over the last week.

    May Books 3) Blood Upon The Rose: Easter 1916, by Gerry Hunt nwhyte 2010

  • Rumor that I heard second-hand, but from a reliable source, supports Teddy.

    Not Enjoyin It | ATTACKERMAN 2009

  • If you tend to buy a lot of second-hand books, the places to go are AddAll and Bookfinder - both do worldwide searches, and both include the Amazon providers and others who may do the same books but cheaper.

    April Books 9) The Road, by Cormac McCarthy nwhyte 2009

  • One day, looking over a second-hand bookstall with Minna, she opened a snuffy volume that had English poems in it.

    A Different Stripe: 2010

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