Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SEC'OND, a. [Fr. from L. secundus; It. secondo; Sp. and Port. segundo; from L. sequor, to follow. See Seek.]

1. That immediately follows the first; the next following the first in order of place or time; the ordinal of two. Take the second book from the shelf. Enter the second house. And he slept and dreamed the second time. Gen. xii.
2. Next in value, power, excellence, dignity or rank; inferior. The silks of China are second to none in quality. Lord Chatham was second to none in eloquence. Dr. Johnson was second to none in intellectual powers, but second to many in research and erudition. Second terms, in algebra, those where the unknown quantity has a degree of power less than it has in the term where it is raised to the highest. – Encyc. At second-hand, in the second place of order; not in the first place, or by or from the first; by transmission; not primarily; not originally; as, a report received at second-hand. The imitation of preachers at second-hand, I shall transcribe / from Bruyere a piece of raillery. – Tatler.