second childhood

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second childhood (plural second childhoods)

1. (idiomatic) The period or state of cognitive decline of an elderly person, characterized by childlike judgment and behavior.

   Synonyms: dotage, senile dementia, senescence, senility

   • 1549, Hugh Latimer, The seconde sermon of Maister Hughe Latimer which he preached before the Kynges Maiestie in his graces palayce at Westminster, ye xv. day of Marche , M.ccccc.xlix:

     King David being in his childhood, an old man, in his second childhood, for all old men are twice children, as the proverb is, Senex bis puer.

   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, chapter 52, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1848, →OCLC:

     "You think I'm in my second childhood, I know!" croaked the old woman.

   • 1951 July 16, “Second Prime”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 2010-11-23:

     Old age is not always second childhood, says he. "There is often, instead, a second prime."

2. (idiomatic) A childlike state in any adult, resulting from mental illness, trauma, or other conditions.

   Synonym: dementia

   • 1838, [Edgar Allan Poe], chapter XI, in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. , New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , →OCLC, page 102:

     For myself, although at the commencement of the voyage I had been in bad health, and was at all times of a delicate constitution, I suffered less than any of us, being much less reduced in frame, and retaining my powers of mind in a surprising degree, while the rest were completely prostrated in intellect, and seemed to be brought to a species of second childhood, generally simpering in their expressions, with idiotic smiles, and uttering the most absurd platitudes.

   • 1891, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, chapter XIII, in The Little Minister. , volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London, Paris: Cassell and Company, , →OCLC:

     But take care of yourself; a man's second childhood begins when a woman gets hold of him.