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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

hand down en · VERB

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. To transmit in succession, as from father to son, or from predecessor to successor.
    • Yet if the only form of tradition, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, "tradition" should positively be discouraged. 1920, T. S. Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent”, in The Sacred Wood:
    • Fables are handed down from age to age.
  2. To deliver (the decision of a court, etc.)
    • UN experts alarmed by sentences handed down to human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa on lèse-majesté charges 2024 March 25, United Nations, “Thailand: UN experts alarmed by sentences handed down to human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa on lèse-majesté charges”, in United Nations:
    • The jury handed down a verdict of guilty.
    • Justice James A. Burke, who presided over the trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, could have sentenced Mr. Weinstein to as little as five years, but he heeded the arguments of prosecutors who urged him to hand down a long sentence. 2020 March 11, Jan Ransom, “Harvey Weinstein’s Stunning Downfall: 23 Years in Prison”, in New York Times:
  3. To forward to the proper officer (the decision of a higher court).
    • The Clerk of the Court of Appeals handed down its decision.
  4. (idiomatic) To donate (as second hand.)
    • When my older brother grows out of his clothes, he hands them down to me.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
handed down Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
handed down Tense=Past lexicographic
hands down Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
handing down Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Deriveds

hand-me-down

Translations (12)

uk передава́ти (transmit in succession) · ru передава́ть (transmit in succession) · nl doorgeven (transmit in succession) · da overlevere (transmit in succession) · uk переда́ти (transmit in succession) · it tramandare (transmit in succession) · nl overleveren (transmit in succession) · mi whakahoro (transmit in succession) · grc παραδίδωμι (transmit in succession) · ru переда́ть (transmit in succession) · fr transmettre (transmit in succession) · de überliefern (transmit in succession)