hand down meaning

Definition of hand down in English Dictionary

• VerbSGhands downPRhanding downPT, PPhanded down+-
  1. To transmit in succession, as from father to son, or from predecessor to successor.
     1. Fables are handed down from age to age.
  2. To deliver (the decision of a court, etc.).
     1. The jury handed down a verdict of guilty.
  3. To forward to the proper officer (the decision of a higher court).
     1. The Clerk of the Court of Appeals handed down its decision.
  4. (idiomatic) To donate (as second hand.).
     1. When my older brother grows out of his clothes, he hands them down to me, which later in turn I hand down to my little brother, if they're not ripped apart by then. We fall over a lot, this family of ours. And grow fast. Either way, my little brother ends up with tonnes of third-hand scruffy clothes. Maybe that's why he gets picked on so much.
• More Examples
  1. Used in the Middle of Sentence
     • The Mishna is believed by Jews to have been handed down orally from the patriarch-prophet Moses, who received it on Mount Sinai with the written Torah.
     • The Clerk of the Court of Appeals handed down its decision.
     • If there’s any sense of justice, relevance, even poetic stagemanship at work, New Orleans should emerge hands down as the site for the debate that will be dedicated to the nation’s domestic problems.

• Part-of-Speech Hierarchy
  1. Phrases
     • Phrasal verbs
       • Phrasal verbs with particle (down)
  2. Verbs
     • Phrasal verbs
       • Phrasal verbs with particle (down)

Other Vocabulary

1. en sand down
2. en hands down
3. en pad down
4. en man down
5. en haul down