second papers

American  

plural noun

1. (before 1952) an official petition for naturalization by a resident alien desiring to become a U.S. citizen, filed two years after the first papers and upon having lived in the United States for five years.

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Etymology

Origin of second papers

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

second papers

Some of the second papers now in deepest trouble were slowest to abandon the autocratic attitudes that gave them their character.

From Time Magazine Archive

Perhaps it is no accident that the papers Hearst owns in Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle are the troubled second papers in those cities.

From Time Magazine Archive

Only a few of the adult male settlers have second papers; about nine tenths have first papers, while the rest are totally unnaturalized.

From A Stake in the Land by Speek, Peter A. (Peter Alexander)

The period of at least two years intervening between the issue of the first and second papers was presumably designed to give opportunity for investigation of the candidate’s fitness, but rarely serves that purpose now.

From The Unpopular Review, Number 19 July-December 1918 by Various

One of the difficulties which hinder them from getting their second papers sooner is the fact that they must have some one certify that he has actually known them for a period of five years.

From A Stake in the Land by Speek, Peter A. (Peter Alexander)