SECOND


Meaning of SECOND in English

I.

noun very short moment of time

ADJECTIVE

▪ brief , fleeting , mere ( esp. AmE ), split

I only saw the man for a split ~ as he ran past.

I swam to the other shore in mere ~s.

▪ single

▪ precious

She had wasted a few precious ~s.

▪ closing , dying ( BrE )

His goal in the dying ~s of the game secured Rangers a 3–2 victory.

VERB + SECOND

▪ take

This will only take a ~.

▪ have

Do you have a ~, Miss White?

▪ hang on , hold on , wait

Wait a second—this letter's been sent to me by mistake.

▪ spend

She wanted to spend every ~ with him.

SECOND + VERB

▪ go by , pass , tick by

The ~s ticked by.

SECOND + NOUN

▪ hand

PREPOSITION

▪ for a ~

For a ~ I thought you were my mother.

I hesitated for a ~ before speaking.

▪ in a ~

I'll be with you in a ~.

▪ in ~s , within ~s

Within ~s he had disappeared from view.

PHRASES

▪ a couple of ~s

It took a couple of ~s to realize what was going on.

▪ a fraction of a ~

If he'd reacted a fraction of a ~ later, he would surely have died.

▪ a matter of ~s

The end of the game is only a matter of ~s away.

▪ count the ~s

I was counting the ~s until the bell.

▪ in the final ~s

The game was lost in the final ~s.

▪ (only) ~s left

We only have a few ~s left.

We were three points behind with only ~s left in the game.

▪ with each passing ~ , with every passing ~

The room seemed to grow hotter with each passing ~.

II.

verb

Second is used with these nouns as the object: ↑ motion

Oxford Collocations English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь словосочетаний .