reach-me-down

adjective

Ready-made.

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Meanings

adjectivereach-me-down (not comparable)
  1. not comparableReady-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
nounreach-me-down (plural reach-me-downs)

plural reach-me-downs

  1. in pluralReady-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

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
ready-made

Origin

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

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

reach-me-down. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reach-me-down

MLA

“reach-me-down.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reach-me-down. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reach-me-down,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reach-me-down.

Source: reach-me-down on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.