second hand

alternative secondhand · alternative second-hand

1. alternativenot comparableAlternative form of secondhand.

plural second hands · alternative secondhand · alternative second-hand

1. An intermediate person or means; intermediary.

   “My Lord Oxford, by a second hand, proposed my being his chaplain, which I, by a second hand, excused.

   1826, Walter Scott, editor, Memoirs of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin, page 135

   1 more example

   Under certain circumstances there is always a danger in a young man's playing the benefactor towards the other sex, in his own person. A thousand times better do it by a second hand — engage the services of some kind aunt or female cousin.

   1832, James Sheridan Knowles, The Magdalen, and other tales, page 3

plural second hands

1. On the clock face of a clock or watch, the hand (pointer) that shows the number of seconds that have passed.

   ... the ticking of a second hand. Tick, tick, tick. The clock. Jude wrenched himself free of his gift's trance, surprised that there wasn't a tearing sound when his hand came free of the doubloon. The visions fell away, and he felt his ...

   2018 April 17, Bryan Camp, The City of Lost Fortunes, Titan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC