[THIRD B. 1 and HAND sb. 10 c, after SECOND-HAND.]
1. In advb. phrase at († the) third hand: from a second middleman or intermediary; at the second remove from the original source.
1553. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 141. Na maner of gudis can be had nor coft bot at the thrid hand.
a. 1635. Sibbes, Confer. Christ & Mary (1656), 67. We have it at the third hand.
1895. in Bookman, Oct., 23/1. The illustrations … were reproduced from inferior German copies at third-hand.
2. attrib. or as adj. Obtained, copied, or imitated from a second-hand source; further away from the original source, and so more stale, less authoritative, etc., than the second-hand.
1599. Marston, Sco. Villanie, I. iv. Laboring with third-hand iests, and Apish skips.
1862. Latham, Channel Isl. III. xiv. (ed. 2), 348. The second-hand and third-hand text-books.
1866. Macm. Mag., April, 321. Resting on mere second-hand, nay, often third-hand information.
1901. Lang, Mystery of Mary Stuart, 222. What he [Moray] told was (by his account) mere third-hand gossip, but perhaps Lennox received it from him as gospel.
b. Third-hand dealer, one who deals in third-hand articles.
1864. Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 104. Cheated in the purchase of his first buggy by a third-hand dealer in Calcutta.
