at third hand

prep_phrase

at third hand

prep_phrase

1

Indirectly, through a series of two intermediaries.

'I doubt if you will ever have met "Rainproof" Nogg,' wrote one about this time—a shrewd old lady whose Dutch-sounding name caused pushful young hostesses to prick up their ears even when it reached them at third hand.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.