Dictionary

reach-me-down en · ADJ

Etymology

An allusion to clothes being simply taken down from a rack, rather than tailored. See reach down.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable, of clothing) Ready-made.
   • A reach-me-down dress, a penny sparkler, a fancy cake, a sixpenny entertainment . . . how can such things use up so much money? 2002, Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White, Canongate Books (2010), page 25:

reach-me-down en · NOUN

Etymology

An allusion to clothes being simply taken down from a rack, rather than tailored. See reach down.

Meanings

1. (in-plural) Ready-made clothing.
   • He shrank from the prospect of being confronted next day, at the height of his misery, with these appalling reach-me-downs. 1921, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter XV, in Indiscretions of Archie:

Forms