a. [ F., fr. L. secundus second, properly, following, fr. sequi to follow. See Sue to follow, and cf. Secund. ] 1. Immediately following the first; next to the first in order of place or time; hence, occurring again; another; other. [ 1913 Webster ]

And he slept and dreamed the second time. Gen. xli. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Next to the first in value, power, excellence, dignity, or rank; secondary; subordinate; inferior. [ 1913 Webster ]

May the day when we become the second people upon earth . . . be the day of our utter extirpation. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Being of the same kind as another that has preceded; another, like a prototype; as, a second Cato; a second Troy; a second deluge. [ 1913 Webster ]

A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Second Adventist. See Adventist. --
Second cousin, the child of a cousin. --
Second-cut file. See under File. --
Second distance (Art), that part of a picture between the foreground and the background; -- called also middle ground, or middle distance. [ R. ] --
Second estate (Eng.), the House of Peers. --
Second girl, a female house-servant who does the lighter work, as chamber work or waiting on table. --
Second intention. See under Intention. --
Second story,
Second floor, in America, the second range of rooms from the street level. This, in England, is called the first floor, the one beneath being the ground floor. --
Second thought or
Second thoughts, consideration of a matter following a first impulse or impression; reconsideration. [ 1913 Webster ] On second thoughts, gentlemen, I don't wish you had known him. Dickens.
[ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, follows, or comes after; one next and inferior in place, time, rank, importance, excellence, or power. [ 1913 Webster ]

Man
An angel's second, nor his second long. Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who follows or attends another for his support and aid; a backer; an assistant; specifically, one who acts as another's aid in a duel. [ 1913 Webster ]

Being sure enough of seconds after the first onset. Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Aid; assistance; help. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Give second, and my love
Is everlasting thine. J. Fletcher. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. pl. An article of merchandise of a grade inferior to the best; esp., a coarse or inferior kind of flour. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. [ F. seconde. See Second, a. ] The sixtieth part of a minute of time or of a minute of space, that is, the second regular subdivision of the degree; as, sound moves about 1, 140 English feet in a second; five minutes and ten seconds north of this place. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. In the duodecimal system of mensuration, the twelfth part of an inch or prime; a line. See Inch, and Prime, n., 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mus.) (a) The interval between any tone and the tone which is represented on the degree of the staff next above it. (b) The second part in a concerted piece; -- often popularly applied to the alto. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Parliamentary Procedure) A motion in support of another motion which has been moved in a deliberative body; a motion without a second dies without discussion. [ PJC ]

Second hand, the hand which marks the seconds on the dial of a watch or a clock. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Seconded; p. pr. & vb. n. Seconding. ] [ Cf. F. seconder, L. secundare, from secundus. See Second, a. ] 1. To follow in the next place; to succeed; to alternate. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

In the method of nature, a low valley is immediately seconded with an ambitious hill. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sin is seconded with sin. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To follow or attend for the purpose of assisting; to support; to back; to act as the second of; to assist; to forward; to encourage. [ 1913 Webster ]

We have supplies to second our attempt. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

In human works though labored 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. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Specifically, (Parliamentary Procedure) to support, as a motion{ 6 } or proposal, by adding one's voice to that of the mover or proposer. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Under common parliamentary rules used by many organizations, especially legislative bodies, a motion must be seconded in order to come properly before the deliberative body for discussion. Any motion{ 6 } for which there is no second{ 8 } dies for lack thereof. [ PJC ]

adv. 1. In a secondary manner or degree. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Secondly; in the second place. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers. 1 Cor. xii. 28. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being secondary. [ 1913 Webster ]

Full of a girl's sweet sense of secondariness to the object of her love. Mrs. Oliphant. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Secondaries 1. One who occupies a subordinate, inferior, or auxiliary place; a delegate or deputy; one who is second or next to the chief officer; as, the secondary, or undersheriff of the city of London. [ 1913 Webster ]

Old Escalus . . . is thy secondary. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Astron.) (a) A secondary circle. (b) A satellite. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) A secondary quill. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. secondaire, L. secundaire. See Second, a. ] 1. Succeeding next in order to the first; of second place, origin, rank, etc.; not primary; subordinate; not of the first order or rate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wheresoever there is moral right on the one hand, no secondary right can discharge it. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

Two are the radical differences; the secondary differences are as four. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Acting by deputation or delegated authority; as, the work of secondary hands. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Chem.) Possessing some quality, or having been subject to some operation (as substitution), in the second degree; as, a secondary salt, a secondary amine, etc. Cf. primary. [ 1913 Webster ]

A primary amine has the general formula R.NH2; a secondary amine has the general formula R.NH.R′, where R and R′ are alkyl or aryl groups. A primary alcohol has the general formula R.CH2.OH; a secondary alcohol has the general formula R.CHOH.R′. Tertiary amines and alcohols have the general formulas R.CR′N.R″ and R.CR′OH.R″, respectively. [ PJC ]

4. (Min.) Subsequent in origin; -- said of minerals produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass; also of characters of minerals (as secondary cleavage, etc.) developed by pressure or other causes. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Med.) (a) Dependent or consequent upon another disease; as, Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever. (b) Occurring in the second stage of a disease; as, the secondary symptoms of syphilis. [ 1913 Webster ]

Secondary accent. See the Note under Accent, n., 1. --
Secondary age. (Geol.) The Mesozoic age, or age before the Tertiary. See Mesozoic, and Note under Age, n., 8. --
Secondary alcohol (Chem.), any one of a series of alcohols which contain the radical CH.OH united with two hydrocarbon radicals. On oxidation the secondary alcohols form ketones. --
Secondary amputation (Surg.), an amputation for injury, performed after the constitutional effects of the injury have subsided. --
Secondary axis (Opt.), any line which passes through the optical center of a lens but not through the centers of curvature, or, in the case of a mirror, which passes through the center of curvature but not through the center of the mirror. --
Secondary battery. (Elec.) See under Battery, n., 4. --
Secondary circle (Geom. & Astron.), a great circle that passes through the poles of another great circle and is therefore perpendicular to its plane. --
Secondary circuit,
Secondary coil (Elec.), a circuit or coil in which a current is produced by the induction of a current in a neighboring circuit or coil called the primary circuit or coil. --
Secondary color, a color formed by mixing any two primary colors in equal proportions. --
Secondary coverts (Zool.), the longer coverts which overlie the basal part of the secondary quills of a bird. See Illust. under Bird. --
Secondary crystal (Min.), a crystal derived from one of the primary forms. --
Secondary current (Elec.), a momentary current induced in a closed circuit by a current of electricity passing through the same or a contiguous circuit at the beginning and also at the end of the passage of the primary current. --
Secondary evidence, that which is admitted upon failure to obtain the primary or best evidence. --
Secondary fever (Med.), a fever coming on in a disease after the subsidence of the fever with which the disease began, as the fever which attends the outbreak of the eruption in smallpox. --
Secondary hemorrhage (Med.), hemorrhage occuring from a wounded blood vessel at some considerable time after the original bleeding has ceased. --
Secondary planet. (Astron.) See the Note under Planet. --
Secondary qualities, those qualities of bodies which are not inseparable from them as such, but are dependent for their development and intensity on the organism of the percipient, such as color, taste, odor, etc. --
Secondary quills or
Secondary remiges (Zool.), the quill feathers arising from the forearm of a bird and forming a row continuous with the primaries; -- called also secondaries. See Illust. of Bird. --
Secondary rocks or
Secondary strata (Geol.), those lying between the Primary, or Paleozoic, and Tertiary (see Primary rocks, under Primary); -- later restricted to strata of the Mesozoic age, and at present but little used. --
Secondary syphilis (Med.), the second stage of syphilis, including the period from the first development of constitutional symptoms to the time when the bones and the internal organs become involved. --
Secondary tint, any subdued tint, as gray. --
Secondary union (Surg.), the union of wounds after suppuration; union by the second intention. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Second; second-rate; subordinate; inferior. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of the rank or degree below the best or highest; inferior; second-rate; as, a second-class house; a second-class passage; a second-class citizen. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. One who seconds{ 3 } or supports what another attempts, affirms, moves, or proposes; as, the seconder of an enterprise or of a motion. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Not original or primary; received from another; as, secondhand information. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

They have but a secondhand or implicit knowledge. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not new; already or previously possessed or used by another; as, a secondhand book, garment. [ 1913 Webster ]

At second hand. See Hand, n., 10. [ 1913 Webster ]