seconds

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of second.

   The timer counted down the final ten seconds before launch.

   Sunlight takes about eight minutes to reach Earth, not mere seconds.

   Note

   A plain -s plural that serves every meaning of the noun, from the sixty seconds in a minute to the runners-up in a contest. Two meanings almost always appear in this form: extra helpings at a meal and flawed goods sold cheap. The same spelling is also the verb in she seconds the motion, so the words around it show which one you are reading.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   A second helping of food, or a refill of coffee or another drink, taken after the first.

   The soup was good enough that everyone at the table wanted seconds.

   Coffee refills were free, so she got up for seconds.

   Note

   At the table, helpings are counted with ordinals, and the series can keep going. In Sean Clancy's The Fledgling (2012), everybody helps themselves to seconds and Meren goes on to thirds. The word takes no article: you have seconds or go back for seconds, never a seconds. It suits drinks as easily as food, so a refill of coffee counts too.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of second.

   The committee member seconds the proposal before the chair calls a vote.

   On the hardest pitch, Dana leads and her partner seconds, collecting the gear on the way up.

   Note

   The form that goes with he, she, it or a singular noun: she seconds the motion, the committee seconds it. One spelling covers all of the verb's jobs. It can mean backing a proposal or climbing after a lead climber, and in British use it can mean lending a worker to another post. Because it looks exactly like the noun plural, the subject in front of it shows which word is meant.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   Articles of clothing that have failed quality control and are sold at a discount.

   The store marks down its seconds to clear space on the shelves.

   These socks are sold as seconds because of tiny stitching flaws.

   Similarirregulars, rejects

   Note

   This works almost like a shop label: goods are marked as seconds or sold as seconds. The plural form stays even for a single garment, as in "it was marked as seconds." The flaw can be slight enough that a buyer never finds it. It is the clothing-rack version of the broader trade term for stock graded below the best.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   Any merchandise of a grade lower than the best, especially a coarse or inferior kind of flour.

   The mill bagged its seconds separately from the fine white flour.

   Wholesalers buy seconds in bulk and resell them cheaply to small shops.

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