second

Something that is number two in a series.

Adjective

  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".
    • He became the second player to hit 50000 runs for his county.
  2. Next to the first in value, power, excellence, dignity, or rank; secondary; subordinate; inferior.
    • His job is second priority, because his family is the most important thing in his life.
    • May the day when we become the second people upon earth […] be the day of our utter extirpation! - 1824, Walter Savage Landor, “Conversation I. Richard I and the Abbot of Boxley.”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary...
  3. Being of the same kind as one that has preceded; another.
    • Residents of Texas prepared for Hurricane Harvey, which would in some ways turn out to become the second Hurricane Katrina.
    • A Daniel ſtill ſay I, a ſecond Daniel,[…] - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...

Origin

From Middle English secunde, second, secound, secund, borrowed from Old French second, seond, from Latin secundus (“following, next in order”), from root of sequor (“to follow”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”). Doublet of secund and secundo. Displaced native twoth and partially displaced native other (from Old English ōþer (“other; next; second”)).

Forms

2nd 2ⁿᵈ 2d 2ᵈ IInd II II.

Synonyms

other

Derived

at second hand beard-second come off second best court of second instance error of the second kind have second thoughts murder in the second degree Newton's second law on second thought on second thoughts party of the second part perpetual motion machine of the second kind play second fiddle second act second amendment secondary second aunt second banana second base second baseman second best secondborn second brain second breakfast

Adverb

  1. After the first; at the second rank.
    • Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system.
  2. After the first occurrence but before the third.
    • He is batting second today.

Forms

2nd 2ⁿᵈ 2d 2ᵈ IInd II II.

Noun Entry 3

  1. Something that is number two in a series.
  2. Something 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. 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. 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.)
    • 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...
    • 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.” - 2009, Paulette Jiles, Stormy Weather, page 37:
    • 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. - 2011, Karen Miller, The Innocent Mage:
  7. 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. Second base.
  10. The agent of a party to an honour dispute whose role was to try to resolve the dispute or to make the necessary arrangements for a duel.
    • Since he [i.e., Abraham Lincoln] had very long arms, he chose cavalry broadswords and took lessons in sword fighting from a West Point graduate; and, on the appointed day, he and [James] Shields met on a sandbar in the...
    • Joint enterprise law dates back to at least the 16th century. It was later developed to deter duelling by making seconds and doctors liable for murder. - 2016 October 31, Owen Bowcott, “Appeal court upholds 'joint...
  11. A Cub Scout appointed to assist a sixer.
    • Many packs have a sixer's council where the sixers, and sometimes the seconds, meet with Akela and some of the other leaders. - 1995, Boy Scouts of Canada. National Council, The Cub Book:

    Synonyms: seconder

  12. A second-class honours degree.
    • [Stephen Hawking] […] would go to Cambridge, he said, if they gave him a first, and stay at Oxford if they gave him a second. He got a first. - 2004, William H. Cropper, Great Physicists, page 454:

Forms

seconds 2nd 2ⁿᵈ 2d 2ᵈ IInd II II.

Related

secundal

Derived

cosmetic second diminished second factory second major second minor second sloppy seconds this second

Noun Entry 4

  1. One who supports another in a contest or combat, such as a dueller's assistant.
    • The dogs however parted, and after a little handling by their seconds immediately returned to the charge - 1820, Pierce Egan, Sporting Anecdotes, page 414:
    • 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 - 1973, Frank Brady, Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy, page 201:
    • 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...
  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. Aid; assistance; help.
    • Give second, and my love / Is everlasting thine. - 1608, J. Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess:

Origin

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

Forms

seconds

Noun Entry 5

  1. A unit of time historically and commonly defined as a sixtieth of a minute which the International System of Units more precisely defines 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.
    • Holonyms: decasecond < minute < hectosecond < kilosecond < hour < day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear <...
    • Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond
    • For this reason, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that spinach be cooked at 160º for 15 seconds, which kills potentially fatal bacteria. - 2021 July 1, Gregory McNamee, “Does spinach make you...

    Related: mul:s mul:sec

  2. A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a minute of arc or one part in 3600 of a degree.

    Synonyms: arcsecond second of arc

  3. A short, indeterminate amount of time.
    • I'll be there in a second.
    • Exposure of aluminum to the air causes a near instantaneous oxide. So rapid is the oxidation that it is safe to say you never see aluminum that has no oxide on its surface... The initial exposure of aluminum, regardless...

    Synonyms: instant jiffy sec bat of an eye bit blink of an eye crack eyeblink flash glimpse half a mo jiff jot minute mo moment New York minute New York second no time second span split-second spurt stound

Origin

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

Forms

seconds s sec arcsec "

Derived

attosecond centimeter-gram-second centimetre-gram-second centisecond cumec cusec cycle per second decasecond decisecond dying seconds ephemeris second every second exasecond femtosecond five-second rule foot per second foot-pound-second frame per second gigasecond hectosecond hot second intersecond joule-second just a second

Verb UK, transitive

  1. To transfer temporarily to alternative employment.
    • The army officer was seconded while he held civil office.
    • Things changed quickly from 1892 when Sam Fay was seconded from the L.S.W.R. as General Manager & Secretary. - 1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 585–586:
    • Daniel had still been surprised, however, to find the lab area deserted, all the scientists apparently seconded by Cleomides's military friends. - 1998, Paul Leonard, chapter 9, in Dreamstone Moon:

    Synonyms: detail

  2. To assist or support; to back.
    • Wee haue Supplyes, to ſecond our Attempt:[…] - c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
    • In human works, tho’ labour’d 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. - 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on...
  3. To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two. (This may come from etymology 1 above.)
    • I second the motion.
  4. To accompany by singing as the second performer.

Forms

seconds seconding seconded

Derived

secondment secondee

Verb Entry 7

  1. To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two. (See etymology 3 for translations.)
    • I second the motion.
    • Though seconding (or fifthing) the praise for “BoJack Horseman” and “In Treatment,” I think I’ll use the majority of my space to discuss “You’re the Worst.” - 2017, Critics Pick the TV Shows That Get Mental Health Right...
  2. To follow in the next place; to succeed.
    • In the method of nature, a low valley is immediately seconded with an ambitious hill. - 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
    • Sin is usually seconded with sin. - 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
  3. To climb after a lead climber.

Forms

seconds seconding seconded 2nd 2ⁿᵈ 2d 2ᵈ IInd II II.

Derived

secondable