SECOND NATURE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Second nature

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/sˈɛkənd nˈeɪtʃər/ Listen

Second nature

noun

Acquired behavior that is practiced so long it seems innate.

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Etymology of 'Second nature'

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"Second nature" Quotes from Famous Books

... old man raised an oratorical hand, and looked round on his audience, like one to whom public speaking was second nature. ...

— Lady Merton, Colonist • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... and that on the waterfront from James Bay bridge all around to the Hudson's Bay Company's wharf? We bathed there at all times, and to our heart's content, and never was exception taken to it by the authorities, or in fact by anyone. Use is second nature, and I suppose that ...

— Some Reminiscences of old Victoria • Edgar Fawcett

... boundless forest, until an inhabited street cramps my breast and stifles my breath; nor am I ever less alone than when alone with God. Ask me not, then, though thy intentions be kind, to renounce a mode of life which habit hath made a second nature." ...

— The Lost Hunter - A Tale of Early Times • John Turvill Adams

... Poor devils! Each one, after the enormous excitement of the relief, had come back mechanically to his accustomed place, because this strange life of ours, imposed by the discipline of events, has become a second nature, which we scarcely know how to shake off. Like tired dogs, we still creep into our holes. The youngest were moaning and tossing, as they have done every night for weeks past—shaking off sleep like a harmful ...

— Indiscreet Letters From Peking • B. L. Putman Weale

... said Burns comfortably. "A man means it when he swears he'll never do again something that has become second nature to him to do. He'll do it—he's made that way. You will do this thing, and do it with all your old grip and skill. But I'm not going to discuss it with you. Some day, if you are good, I'll describe the case to you. It's one you can handle better than I, and ...

— Mrs. Red Pepper • Grace S. Richmond

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