Etimology
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 secundo. Displaced native twoth and partially displaced native other (from Old English ōþer (“other; next; second”)).
adjective
second (not comparable)
Number-two; following after the first one with nothing between them. The ordinal number corresponding to the cardinal number two.
Next to the first in value, power, excellence, dignity, or rank; secondary; subordinate; inferior.
Being of the same kind as one that has preceded; another.
Examples
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.
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.
May the day when we become the second people upon earth […] be the day of our utter extirpation!
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, […]
Related words
synonyms
other
adverb
second (not comparable)
(with superlative) After the first; at the second rank.
After the first occurrence but before the third.
Examples
Saturn is the second largest planet.
He is batting second today.
noun
second (plural seconds)
Something that is number two in a series.
Something that is next in rank, quality, precedence, position, status, or authority.
The place that is next below or after first in a race or contest.
(usually in the plural) A manufactured item that, though still usable, fails to meet quality control standards.
(usually in the plural) An additional helping of food.
A chance or attempt to achieve what should have been done the first time, usually indicating success this time around. (See second-guess.)
(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).
The second gear of an engine.
(baseball) Second base.
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.
A Cub Scout appointed to assist the sixer.
(informal) A second-class honours degree.
Examples
They were discounted because they contained blemishes, nicks or were otherwise factory seconds.
That was good barbecue. I hope I can get seconds.
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.
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.”
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.
Synonym: seconder
Many packs have a sixer's council where the sixers, and sometimes the seconds, meet with Akela and some of the other leaders.
[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.
Related words
related terms
(music): secundal (adj.)
verb
second (third-person singular simple present seconds, present participle seconding, simple past and past participle seconded)
(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.)
To follow in the next place; to succeed.
(climbing) To climb after a lead climber.
Examples
I second the motion.
In the method of nature, a low valley is immediately seconded with an ambitious hill.
Sin is usually seconded with sin.
Etimology
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)”).
noun
second (plural seconds)
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.
A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a minute of arc or one part in 3600 of a degree.
(informal) A short, indeterminate amount of time.
Examples
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 of alloy, will form a thin oxide film on the surface the second it is exposed.
Related words
synonyms
(unit of angle): second of arc, arcsecond
(short, indeterminate amount of time): (colloquial) sec
Appendix:Words used as placeholders to count seconds
Etimology
From Middle French seconder, from Latin secundō (“assist, make favorable”).
verb
second (third-person singular simple present seconds, present participle seconding, simple past and past participle seconded)
(transitive, UK) To transfer temporarily to alternative employment.
(transitive) To assist or support; to back.
(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.)
(transitive, music) To accompany by singing as the second performer.
Examples
Synonym: detail
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.
Daniel had still been surprised, however, to find the lab area deserted, all the scientists apparently seconded by Cleomides's military friends.
Wee haue Supplyes, to ſecond our Attempt: […]
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.
I second the motion.
noun
second (plural seconds)
One who supports another in a contest or combat, such as a dueller's assistant.
One who supports or seconds a motion, or the act itself, as required in certain meetings to pass judgement etc.
(obsolete) Aid; assistance; help.
Examples
The dogs however parted, and after a little handling by their seconds immediately returned to the charge
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
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 try and solve their difficulties
Theodore's practice is described as a model for the housemasters and their seconds
If we want the motion to pass, we will need a second.
Give second, and my love / Is everlasting thine.