second

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From Middle English secunde, second, secound, secund, borrowed 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”). Doublet of secund and secundo. Displaced native twoth and partially displaced native other (from Old English ōþer (“other; next; second”)).

• (number-two): 2nd, 2ⁿᵈ, 2d, 2ᵈ, IInd
• (number-two): II, II. (in the names of monarchs and popes)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛkənd/
• (US) enPR: sĕʹkənd, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)nt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛkɪnd/

• Audio (UK); “a second”:

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• Audio (US):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɛkənd
• Hyphenation: sec‧ond

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, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249:

     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.
   • 1824, Walter Savage Landor, “Conversation I. Richard I and the Abbot of Boxley.”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume I, London: Taylor and Hessey, , →OCLC, page 6:

     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.

   Residents of Texas prepared for Hurricane Harvey, which would in some ways turn out to become the second Hurricane Katrina.

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 180, column 2:

     A Daniel ſtill ſay I, a ſecond Daniel, […]

• other

second (not comparable)

1. (with superlative) 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.

second (plural seconds)

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. (usually 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. (usually 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.
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.^[1]
11. A Cub Scout appointed to assist the sixer.

    Synonym: seconder

    • 1995, Boy Scouts of Canada. National Council, The Cub Book:

      Many packs have a sixer's council where the sixers, and sometimes the seconds, meet with Akela and some of the other leaders.

12. (informal) A second-class honours degree.
    • 2004, William H. Cropper, Great Physicists, page 454:

      [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.

• (music): secundal (adj.)

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

1. (Should we move, merge or split⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (transitive) 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.

   • 2017, Critics Pick the TV Shows That Get Mental Health Right — IndieWire Survey‎:

     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.”

2. To follow in the next place; to succeed.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; , London: Iohn Williams , →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):

     In the method of nature, a low valley is immediately seconded with an ambitious hill.

   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     Sin is usually seconded with sin.

3. (climbing) To climb after a lead climber.

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)”).

• (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, "

• enPR: sĕʹkənd, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)nt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkənd
• Hyphenation: sec‧ond

second (plural seconds)

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.
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. (informal) A short, indeterminate amount of time.

   Synonyms: instant, jiffy, sec; see also Thesaurus:moment

   I'll be there in a second.

   • 2020, L. William Zahner, “Corrosion Characteristics”, in Aluminum Surfaces: a Guide to Alloys, Finishes, Fabrication and Maintenance in Architecture and Art, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 287:

     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 of alloy, will form a thin oxide film on the surface the second it is exposed.

• Appendix:Words used as placeholders to count seconds

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

Transfer temporarily

• enPR: səkŏnd', (UK) IPA^(key): /səˈkɒnd/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /səˈkɑnd/
• Rhymes: (UK) -ɒnd, (General American) -ɑnd
• Hyphenation: sec‧ond

Assist, Agree

• enPR: sĕʹkənd, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)nt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkənd
• Hyphenation: sec‧ond

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

2. (transitive, UK) To transfer temporarily to alternative employment.

   Synonym: detail

   The army officer was seconded while he held civil office.

   • 1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 585–586:

     Things changed quickly from 1892 when Sam Fay was seconded from the L.S.W.R. as General Manager & Secretary.

   • 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.

3. (transitive) To assist or support; to back.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 91, column 1:

     Wee haue Supplyes, to ſecond our Attempt: […]

   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. , epistle I, London: Printed for J Wilford, , →OCLC, page 6, line 61:

     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.

4. (Should we move, merge or split⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (transitive) 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.

5. (transitive, music) To accompany by singing as the second performer.

• secondment
• secondee

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, Mark W. Janis, 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.
   • 1608, J. Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess:

     Give second, and my love / Is everlasting thine.

second on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• arcsecond on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• second on Wikipedia.Wikipedia (time)
• second (parliamentary procedure) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• second-hand goods on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Second in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• “second”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• CODENs, coends, condes, consed, decons, sconed

• 2^d, 2^e (abbreviation)

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

• IPA^(key): /sə.ɡɔ̃/, (with liaison) /sə.ɡɔ̃t‿/, (informal) /zɡɔ̃/

• Audio:

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

1. second

   une seconde possibilité ― a second possibility, another possibility

   • 1863, Gautier, Fracasse:

     « Chiquita! Chiquita! » À la seconde appellation, une fillette maigre et hâve […] s’avança vers Agostin.

     "Chiquita! Chiquita!" At the second call, a thin and emaciated little girl came up to Agostin

For added "precision and elegance", the French Academy recommends using second when only two items are being considered, reserving deuxième for other situations, i.e. when more than two items are being considered;^[1] although this rule is not mandatory.^[1] The Academy however advises against ever replacing second with deuxième in fixed idioms such as de seconde main or seconde nature.^[1]

• (ordinal): deuxième

• secondaire
• seconde

second m (plural seconds)

1. assistant, first mate

   Synonyms: adjoint, aide, assistant

   • 1874, Gobineau, Pléiades:

     Je m’attachai aux pas de miss Harriet et lui servis de second dans le classement du linge.

     I followed Miss Harriet and assisted her in sorting the linen.

• seconder

• “second”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

• cédons, condés

second

1. Alternative form of secunde (“after the first”)

second

1. Alternative form of secunde (“after the first”)

Borrowed from Latin secundus.

• IPA^(key): /səˈkunt/

second m (oblique and nominative feminine singular seconde)

1. second

• Middle English: secunde
  • English: second
  • Scots: second
• French: second

• saicind, saicond, seicont

From Middle English secunde, second, secound, secund, borrowed 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”).

• IPA^(key): ,

second

1. second

• “secund, adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 23 May 2024, reproduced from William A Craigie, A J Aitken , editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “second, adj., n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 23 May 2024, reproduced from W Grant and D D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.