second hand

See also: second-hand and secondhand

English

second (ordinal) + hand (“party”)

second hand (not comparable)

secondhand and second-hand may be preferred spellings for the adjective meaning "not new", to avoid confusion with the noun "second hand" referring to the hand of a clock or watch.

secondhand — see secondhand

second hand (plural second hands)

An intermediate person or means; intermediary.
- 1826, Walter Scott, editor, Memoirs of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin‎, page 135:
  “My Lord Oxford, by a second hand, proposed my being his chaplain, which I, by a second hand, excused.
- 1832, James Sheridan Knowles, The Magdalen, and other tales‎, page 3:
  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.

second (“unit of time”) + hand (“pointer”)

second hand (plural second hands)

On a clock or watch, the hand or pointer that shows the number of seconds that have passed.
- 2018 April 17, Bryan Camp, The City of Lost Fortunes‎, Titan Books, →ISBN, OCLC 1033604071:
  ... 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 ...

the hand or pointer that shows the number of seconds that have passed