Dictionary

second childhood en · NOUN

Pronunciation

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Meanings

1. (idiomatic) The period or state of cognitive decline of an elderly person, characterized by childlike judgment and behavior.
   • Old age is not always second childhood, says he. "There is often, instead, a second prime." 1951 July 16, “Second Prime”, in Time, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2010:
   • "You think I'm in my second childhood, I know!" croaked the old woman. 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, chapter 52, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
   • King David being in his childhood, an old man, in his second childhood, for all old men are twice children, as the proverb is, Senex bis puer. 1549, Hugh Latimer, The seconde [seventh] sermon of Maister Hughe Latimer which he preached before the Kynges Maiestie in his graces palayce at Westminster, ye xv. day of Marche [-xix daye of Apryll], M.ccccc.xlix:
2. (idiomatic) A childlike state in any adult, resulting from mental illness, trauma, or other conditions.
   • For myself, although at the commencement of the voyage I had been in bad health, and was at all times of a delicate constitution, I suffered less than any of us, being much less reduced in frame, and retaining my powers of mind in a surprising degree, while the rest were completely prostrated in intellect, and seemed to be brought to a species of second childhood, generally simpering in their expressions, with idiotic smiles, and uttering the most absurd platitudes. 1838, [Edgar Allan Poe], chapter XI, in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 102:
   • But take care of yourself; a man's second childhood begins when a woman gets hold of him. 1891, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, chapter XIII, in The Little Minister. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; Paris: Cassell and Company, […], →OCLC:

Forms

Relateds

juvenescence · twichild · once a man, twice a child

Synonyms

dotage · dementia · senility · senescence