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