Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Childhood
1.
The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty.
I have walked before you from my
childhood
. 1. Sam. xii. 2.
2.
Children, taken collectively.
[R.]
The well-governed
childhood
of this realm. Sir. W. Scott.
3.
The commencement; the first period.
The
childhood
of our joy. Shakespeare
Second childhood
, the state of being feeble and incapable from old age.
Webster 1828 Edition
Childhood
CHILDHOOD
, n.1.
The state of a child, or the time in which persons are children, including the time from birth to puberty. But in a more restricted sense, the state or time from infancy to puberty. Thus we say, infancy, childhood, youth and manhood.Childhood and youth are vanity. Eccl. 11.
2.
The properties of a child.Definition 2024
childhood
childhood
English
Noun
childhood (plural childhoods)
- (uncountable) The state of being a child.
- 2013 September-October, Terrie Moffitt et al., “Lifelong Impact of Early Self-Control”, in American Scientist:
- To our own surprise, our 40-year study of 1,000 children revealed that childhood self-control strongly predicts adult success, in people of high or low intelligence, in rich or poor, and does so throughout the entire population, with a step change in health, wealth, and social success at every level of self-control.
-
- The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess:
- He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood.
-
- (by extension) The early stages of development of something.
- Shakespeare
- the childhood of our joy
- Shakespeare
Derived terms
Translations
the state of being a child
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time when one is a child
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(by extension) the early stages of development of something
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