second sightn.
1.
a. A supposed power by which occurrences in the future or things at a distance are perceived as though they were actually present.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the paranormal > [noun] > clairvoyance
second sight1616
second-sightedness1708
deuteroscopy1822
clairvoyance1847
clairvoyancy1877
magnetoscope1890
telegnomy1905
telegnosis1911
sight1924
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > inspired prophecy > [noun] > second sight
second sight1616
sight1924
1616 in A. Macdonald & J. Dennistoun Misc. Maitland Club (1840) II. 189 Be the secund sicht grantit to her..She saw Robert Stewart..and certane utheris with towis about thair craigis.
1685 J. Evelyn Diary (1955) IV. 470 There was something said of the second-sight, happning to some persons, especialy Scotch.
1763 Pastoral Cordial 11 Their Faith and firm Belief In Second Sight, and Mother Shipton.
1827 W. Scott Highland Widow in Chron. Canongate 1st Ser. I. xii. 265 There are Highland visions, Captain Campbell, as unsatisfactory and vain as those of the second sight.
1875 A. Lang in Encycl. Brit. II. 204/1 Persons possessing the Celtic taishitaraugh, or gift of second-sight.
b. transferred and figurative.
ΚΠ
1711 J. Anderson Countrey-man's Let. to Curat 29 But the High-Church Doctors were not then Blessed with the second sight, as they have been of late.
1860 R. W. Emerson Beauty in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 267 When the second-sight of the mind is opened, now one colour or form or gesture, and now another, has a pungency [etc.].
2. The image or vision produced by the faculty of ‘second sight’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the paranormal > [noun] > clairvoyance > image produced
second sight1763
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > inspired prophecy > [noun] > second sight > instance of
second sight1763
1763 ‘T. Insulanus’ Treat. Second Sight 35 From many cogent proofs, I am induced to think, that the Second Sight is not seen by the organ of the eye.
1763 ‘T. Insulanus’ Treat. Second Sight Index 187 Grant, Mr. James, his relation of a young man that saw the Second Sight.
3. Natural Magic. (See quot. 1883.)
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > legerdemain, etc. > [noun] > types of
knife-playinga1400
fire-eating1754
pyrotechnics1778
salamandership1787
juggling1836
second sight1859
sword-swallowing1873
palming1899
pyro1987
1859 F. C. L. Wraxall tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin Mem. II. i. 4 Chance led me straight to the invention of second sight.
1883 Cassell's Bk. Sports 923 Clairvoyance, or Second Sight, when applied to conjurers' tricks and private entertainments, is the art of telling the name and description of articles by a person whose eyes are blindfolded.
1902 G. Faur in Encycl. Brit. XXX. 427/2 In recent years the mystery known as ‘Second Sight’ has been vastly improved.
4. attributive.
ΚΠ
1700 Dr. Hickes Let. in Pepys' Mem. (1870) 696 I asked this question, to know whether..these Second Sight folks were Seers or Visionists.
Derivatives
second-sighted adj. having the gift of second sight.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the paranormal > [adjective] > clairvoyant
second-sighteda1694
deuteroscopic1841
clairvoyant1850
teloptic1893
telegnostic1925
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > inspired prophecy > [adjective] > having second sight
second-sighteda1694
a1694 in Aubrey's Misc. (1696) 154 These Events, which Second-sighted Men discover, or fore-tell.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Let. to — in Posthumous Poems (1824) 63 She replies, Veiling in awe her second-sighted eyes.
1875 A. Lang in Encycl. Brit. II. 204/2 The inyanga, or second~sighted man.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the paranormal > [noun] > clairvoyance
second sight1616
second-sightedness1708
deuteroscopy1822
clairvoyance1847
clairvoyancy1877
magnetoscope1890
telegnomy1905
telegnosis1911
sight1924
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > inspired prophecy > [noun] > second sight > quality of possessing
second-sightedness1708
1708 Chamberlayne's Magnæ Britanniæ Notitia (1743) ii. i. ii. 322 This quality of second~sightedness is not rare.
second-sighter n. one who practises the power of second sight.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the paranormal > [noun] > clairvoyance > clairvoyant
seer1583
second seer1826
clairvoyant1851
medium1851
second-sighter1897
paragnost1964
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > inspired prophecy > [noun] > second sight > one who possesses
seer1583
second seer1826
second-sighter1897
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. xx. 460 You cannot see your own bush-soul, unless you are an Ebumtup, a sort of second-sighter.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2020).
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