second

Etymology 1

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”)).

adj

1. Number-two">two; following after the first one with nothing between them. The ordinal number corresponding to the cardinal number two">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.
2. Next to the first in value, power, excellence, dignity, or rank; secondary; subordinate; inferior.
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.

adv

1. (with superlative) After the first; at the second rank.
   Saturn is the second largest planet.
2. After the first occurrence but before the third.
   He is batting second today.

noun

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.)
   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. 2003, Sheila Ryan Wallace, The Sea Captain and His Ladies, page 22
   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. (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.
11. A Cub Scout appointed to assist the 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
12. (informal) 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

verb

1. (transitive) To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two. (See under [[#Etymology 3]] for translations.)
   I second the motion.
2. To follow in the next place; to succeed.
3. (climbing) To climb after a lead climber.

Etymology 2

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

1. One-sixtieth of a minute; the SI unit of time, defined 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.
3. (informal) A short, indeterminate amount of time.
   I'll be there in a second.

Etymology 3

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

verb

1. (transitive, UK) 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
2. (transitive) To assist or support; to back.
3. (transitive) To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two. (This may come from the English adjective above.)
   I second the motion.
4. (transitive, music) To accompany by singing as the second performer.

noun

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 their difficulties 1992, Mark W. Janis, International Courts for the Twenty-First Century, page 10
   Theodore's practice is described as a model for the housemasters and their seconds 2009, David Brakke, Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early ...
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.
   Give second, and my love / Is everlasting thine. 1608, J. Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess