Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Second

Sec′ond

,
Adj.
[F., fr. L.
secundus
second, properly, following, fr.
sequi
to follow. See
Sue
to follow, and cf.
Secund
.]
1.
Immediately following the first; next to the first in order of place or time; hence, occurring again; another; other.
And he slept and dreamed the
second
time.
Gen. xli. 5.
2.
Next to the first in value, power, excellence, dignity, or rank; secondary; subordinate; inferior.
May the day when we become the
second
people upon earth . . . be the day of our utter extirpation.
Landor.
3.
Being of the same kind as another that has preceded; another, like a prototype;
as, a
second
Cato; a
second
Troy; a
second
deluge
.
A Daniel, still say I, a
second
Daniel!
Shakespeare
Second Adventist
.
See
Adventist
.
–
Second cousin
,
the child of a cousin.
–
Second-cut file
.
See under
File
.
–
Second distance
(Art)
,
that part of a picture between the foreground and the background; – called also
middle ground
, or
middle distance
.
[R.]
–
Second estate
(Eng.)
,
the House of Peers.
–
Second girl
,
a female house-servant who does the lighter work, as chamber work or waiting on table.
–
Second intention
.
See under
Intention
.
–
Second story
,
Second floor
,
in America, the second range of rooms from the street level. This, in England, is called the
first floor
, the one beneath being the
ground floor
.
–
Second thought
or
Second thoughts
,
consideration of a matter following a first impulse or impression; reconsideration.

On
second thoughts
, gentlemen, I don’t wish you had known him.
Dickens.

Sec′ond

,
Noun.
1.
One who, or that which, follows, or comes after; one next and inferior in place, time, rank, importance, excellence, or power.
Man
An angel's
second
, nor his
second
long.
Young.
2.
One who follows or attends another for his support and aid; a backer; an assistant; specifically, one who acts as another's aid in a duel.
Being sure enough of
seconds
after the first onset.
Sir H. Wotton.
3.
Aid; assistance; help.
[Obs.]
Give
second
, and my love
Is everlasting thine.
J. Fletcher.
4.
pl.
An article of merchandise of a grade inferior to the best; esp., a coarse or inferior kind of flour.
5.
[F.
seconde
. See
Second
,
Adj.
]
The sixtieth part of a minute of time or of a minute of space, that is, the second regular subdivision of the degree;
as, sound moves about 1,140 English feet in a
second
; five minutes and ten
seconds
north of this place.
6.
In the duodecimal system of mensuration, the twelfth part of an inch or prime; a line. See
Inch
, and
Prime
,
Noun.
, 8.
7.
(Mus.)
(a)
The interval between any tone and the tone which is represented on the degree of the staff next above it.
(b)
The second part in a concerted piece; – often popularly applied to the alto.
Second hand
,
the hand which marks the seconds on the dial of a watch or a clock.

Sec′ond

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Seconded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Seconding
.]
[Cf. F.
seconder
, L.
secundare
, from
secundus
. See
Second
,
Adj.
]
1.
To follow in the next place; to succeed; to alternate.
[R.]
In the method of nature, a low valley is immediately
seconded
with an ambitious hill.
Fuller.
Sin is
seconded
with sin.
South.
2.
To follow or attend for the purpose of assisting; to support; to back; to act as the second of; to assist; to forward; to encourage.
We have supplies to
second
our attempt.
Shakespeare
In human works though labored on with pain,
A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain;
In God's, one single can its end produce,
Yet serves to
second
too some other use.
Pope.
3.
Specifically,
(Parliamentary Procedure)
to support, as a motion{6} or proposal, by adding one's voice to that of the mover or proposer.

Webster 1828 Edition

Second

SEC'OND

,
Adj.
[L. secundus; L. sequor, to follow. See Seek.]
1. That immediately follows the first; the mext following the first in order of place or time; the ordinal of two. Take the second book from the shelf. Enter the second house.
And he slept and dreamed the second time. Gen. 41.
2. Next in value, power, excellence, dignity or rank; inferior. The silks of China are second to none. Lord Chatham was second to none in eloquence. Dr. Johnson was second to none in itellecual powers, but second to many in research and erudition.

Definition 2024

second

second

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: sĕʹkənd, IPA(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)nt/
  • Hyphenation: sec‧ond

Adjective

second ‎(not comparable)

  1. Number-two; following after the first one with nothing between them. The ordinal number corresponding to the cardinal number two.
    He lives on Second Street.‎
    The second volume in "The Lord of the Rings" series is called "The Two Towers".‎
    You take the first one, and I'll have the second.‎
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess:
      The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. […] The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.
  2. Next to the first in value, power, excellence, dignity, or rank; secondary; subordinate; inferior.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Landor, (Please provide the title of the work):
      May the day when we become the second people upon earth […] be the day of our utter extirpation.
  3. Being of the same kind as one that has preceded; another.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Shakespeare, (Please provide the title of the work):
      A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!
Alternative forms
  • (number-two): 2nd, 2d, IInd; (in names of monarchs and popes) II
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Adverb

second ‎(not comparable)

  1. (with superlative) After the first; at the second rank.
    Saturn is the second largest planet.‎
  2. After the first occurrence but before the third.
    He is batting second today.‎
Translations

Noun

second ‎(plural seconds)

  1. One that is number two in a series.
  2. One that is next in rank, quality, precedence, position, status, or authority.
  3. The place that is next below or after first in a race or contest.
  4. (chiefly in the plural) A manufactured item that, though still usable, fails to meet quality control standards.
    They were discounted because they contained blemishes, nicks or were otherwise factory seconds.‎
  5. (chiefly in the plural) An additional helping of food.
    That was good barbecue. I hope I can get seconds.‎
  6. A chance or attempt to achieve what should have been done the first time, usually indicating success this time around. (See second-guess.)
    • 2003, Sheila Ryan Wallace, The Sea Captain and His Ladies, page 22:
      The policeman smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Now if you'll follow me, I'll escort you to the Victoria."
      "Oh, there's no need of that. If you'll just point me in the right direction..."
      That's what got you in trouble the first time around. You don't need a second.
    • 2009, Paulette Jiles, Stormy Weather, page 37:
      Smoky Joe ran against a Houston horse named Cherokee Chief.
      “Don't hit him,” Jeanine said to the jockey. “Maybe once. But you don't get a second.”
    • 2011, Karen Miller, The Innocent Mage:
      I'll have one chance to show them that's no longer true. One chance ... and if I stumble, I'll not get a second.
  7. (music) The interval between two adjacent notes in a diatonic scale (either or both of them may be raised or lowered from the basic scale via any type of accidental).
  8. The second gear of an engine.
  9. (baseball) Second base.
Translations

Verb

second ‎(third-person singular simple present seconds, present participle seconding, simple past and past participle seconded)

  1. (transitive) To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two. (See under #Etymology 3 for translations.)
    I second the motion.‎
  2. To follow in the next place; to succeed.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Fuller, (Please provide the title of the work):
      In the method of nature, a low valley is immediately seconded with an ambitious hill.
    • (Can we date this quote?), South, (Please provide the title of the work):
      Sin is seconded with sin.
  3. (climbing) To climb after a lead climber.
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English seconde, Old French seconde, from Medieval Latin secunda, short for secunda pars minuta ‎(“second diminished part (of the hour)”).

Alternative forms

  • (SI unit of time): (abbreviations) s, sec; (symbols) s (SI and non-scientific usage), sec (in non-scientific usage only)
  • (unit of angle): (abbreviations) arcsec, "

Pronunciation

  • enPR: sĕʹkənd, IPA(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)nt/
  • Hyphenation: sec‧ond

Noun

second ‎(plural seconds)

A light flashing approximately once per second
  1. One-sixtieth of a minute; the SI unit of time, defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of caesium-133 in a ground state at a temperature of absolute zero and at rest.
  2. A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a minute of arc or one part in 3600 of a degree.
  3. A short, indeterminate amount of time.
    I'll be there in a second.‎
Synonyms
  • (unit of angle): second of arc, arcsecond
  • (short, indeterminate amount of time): (colloquial) sec
  • Appendix:Words used as placeholders to count seconds
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle French seconder, from Latin secundō ‎(“assist, make favorable”).

Pronunciation

Transfer temporarily
  • enPR: səkŏnd', IPA(key): /səˈkɒnd/
  • Rhymes: -ɒnd
  • Hyphenation: sec‧ond
Assist, Agree
  • enPR: sĕʹkənd, IPA(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)nt/
  • Hyphenation: sec‧ond

Verb

second ‎(third-person singular simple present seconds, present participle seconding, simple past and past participle seconded)

  1. (transitive, Britain) To transfer temporarily to alternative employment.
    • 1998, Paul Leonard, chapter 9, in Dreamstone Moon:
      Daniel had still been surprised, however, to find the lab area deserted, all the scientists apparently seconded by Cleomides's military friends.
  2. (transitive) To assist or support; to back.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Shakespeare, (Please provide the title of the work):
      We have supplies to second our attempt.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Alexander Pope, (Please provide the title of the work):
      In human works though laboured on with pain, / A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain; / In God's, one single can its end produce, / Yet serves to second too some other use.
  3. (transitive) To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two. (This may come from the English adjective above.)
    I second the motion.‎
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

second ‎(plural seconds)

  1. One who supports another in a contest or combat, such as a dueller's assistant.
    • 1820, Pierce Egan, Sporting Anecdotes, page 414:
      The dogs however parted, and after a little handling by their seconds immediately returned to the charge
    • 1973, Frank Brady, Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy, page 201:
      They find ways to take advice from their seconds or they arrange the schedule against you as they did to me in the finals of the 1962 World Tournament
    • 1992, International Courts for the Twenty-First Century, page 10:
      Vaguely reminiscent of the use of "seconds" among duelists, this provision required that the two hostile nations stop threatening each other and, instead, to let two appointed countries (their "seconds") try and solve their difficulties
    • 2009, David Brakke, Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early ...:
      Theodore's practice is described as a model for the housemasters and their seconds
  2. One who supports or seconds a motion, or the act itself, as required in certain meetings to pass judgement etc.
    If we want the motion to pass, we will need a second.‎
  3. (obsolete) Aid; assistance; help.
    • (Can we date this quote?), J. Fletcher, (Please provide the title of the work):
      Give second, and my love / Is everlasting thine.
Translations

Anagrams

French

Alternative forms

  • (abbreviation) 2d, 2e

Etymology

From Old French secunt, second, segont, borrowed as a semi-learned term from Latin secundus ‎(“second”); related to sequi ‎(“follow”). Doublet of son ‎(“bran”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sə.ɡɔ̃/

Adjective

second m ‎(feminine singular seconde, masculine plural seconds, feminine plural secondes)

  1. second
    « Chiquita! Chiquita! » À la seconde appellation, une fillette maigre et hâve (...) s'avança vers Agostin. (Gautier, Fracasse, 1863)
    une seconde possibilité — a second possibility, another possibility

Synonyms

Noun

second m ‎(plural seconds)

  1. assistant, first mate
    Je m'attachai aux pas de miss Harriet et lui servis de second dans le classement du linge. (Gobineau, Pléiades, 1874)

Synonyms

See also

References

Anagrams

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin secundus.

Adjective

second m ‎(oblique and nominative feminine singular seconde)

  1. (ordinal) second

Declension

Descendants

Etymology

English numbers
20
 <  1 2 3  > 
    Cardinal : two
    Ordinal : second
    Adverbial : twice
    Multiplier : double

From Middle English second, secound, secund, from Old French second, seond, from Latin secundus ‎(“following, next in order”), from root of sequor ‎(“I follow”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- ‎(“to follow”). Partially displaced native other.

Similar Results