Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHILD'HOOD, n. [Sax. cildhad. See Hood.]

1. The state of a child, or the time in which persons are children, including the time from birth to puberty. But in a more restricted sense, the state or time from infancy to puberty. Thus we say, infancy, childhood, youth, and manhood. Childhood and youth are vanity. – Eccl. xi.
2. The properties of a child. – Dryden.