reach-me-down
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
An allusion to clothes being simply taken down from a rack, rather than tailored.
Adjective[edit]
reach-me-down (not comparable)
- Of clothing: ready-made.
- 2002, Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White, Canongate Books (2010), page 25:
- A reach-me-down dress, a penny sparkler, a fancy cake, a sixpenny entertainment . . . how can such things use up so much money?
Noun[edit]
reach-me-down (plural reach-me-downs)
- (chiefly in the plural) Ready-made clothing.
- 1921, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter XV, in Indiscretions of Archie:
- He shrank from the prospect of being confronted next day, at the height of his misery, with these appalling reach-me-downs.