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definitions

second cousin

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noun

a child of a first cousin of one's parent.Compare cousin(def 1).

Origin of second cousin

First recorded in 1650–60
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for second cousin

Historical Examples of second cousin

  • You are of the noble Austrian blood; the second-cousin of your mother is a grand duke; you must not forget.'

    Shorty McCabe

    Sewell Ford

  • Second-cousin Charles Adams had been in correspondence with him, and advised him to return.

    A Little Girl in Old Boston

    Amanda Millie Douglas

  • Val Dartie, it was true, was a second-cousin, but it was not the thing for Holly to go about with him.

  • Charles was, in fact, on his mother's side, second-cousin to an English Earl.

  • He was my own second-cousin, and our folks used to visit back and forth a good deal before he was married.

    Jerome, A Poor Man

    Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

British Dictionary definitions for second cousin

second cousin

noun

the child of a first cousin of either of one's parents
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Idioms and Phrases with second cousin

second cousin

Something that is related or similar but not quite the same, as in This beef stew is second cousin to boeuf bourguignon. This expression transfers the literal sense of second cousin—that is, the child of the first cousin of one's mother or father—a usage dating from the mid-1600s.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.