Green’s Dictionary of Slang

the second most important person, the second-in-command.

1947		N.Y. Herald Trib. 28 Dec. 16/2: The average burlesque company carries three comedians who are always known as First, Second and Third Bananas.
1953		N.Y. Times 24 May XII: Mr. Carnay has played second banana to many star comedy performers.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 262: We got [...] a fine script, great leading man, good solid actor for second banana.
1985		J. Wambaugh Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 37: He was told to drive his white Mercedes on a circuitous route that made no sense whatever to the Palm Springs police who were playing second banana to the feds.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 317: Second banana to hero chump Ed Exley.
1999		Guardian Guide 6–12 Nov. 5: He played second banana to a truculent dog.
2017		T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘I’m second banana with the union’.

(US black/teen) sexual exploration above the waist (cf. first base n. (1); third base under third adj.; home run n. (2)).

1993–2003		Urban Dict. 🌐 Second Base One step up of First Base, heavy petting and feeling up while making out, up the shirt or shirtless for both partners. ‘I thought I went to Second Base with him on our first month anni, but it was actually third because I gave him a handjob as well’.
1999		K. Anderson Turn of the Century 85: As he first cupped Jodie Eliason’s breast—the first time he got to second base with any girl—she whispered, unimaginably, ‘Pinch it, George.’.
2005		D.A. Shapiro Every Boy 134: He got to second base once on the golf course, up the cut-off sweatshirt of an eighth grader who kept her bra on.

see first chop adj.

(gay) the hiding of one’s specific sexual preferences and practices, even if the basic fact of homosexuality can be admitted; also used of domestic violence within same-sex relationships.

1996		L. Vickers in E Law – Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law 3:4 Dec. [title] The Second Closet: Domestic Violence in Lesbian and Gay Relationships.
2000		C.M. West ref. in ‘Domestic Violence factsheet’ National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center 🌐 [footnote] Leaving a Second Closet: Outing Partner Violence in Same-Sex Couples.

1. a worn-out prostitute.

1950

‘No. 35’ Argot in G. Simes DAUS (1993).

2. an ageing passive homosexual.

1950

‘No. 35’ Argot in G. Simes DAUS (1993).

(US) to follow a leader or someone first-rate, with the hope of advancement or promotion.

1954

(con. c.1915) L. Armstrong Satchmo When I was ‘second lining’ – that is, following the brass bands in parades.

(N.Z. prison) a lookout.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 161/1: second man n. (in a criminal job) the lookout.

(Aus. prison) one who is serving their second term in prison.

1895

C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 71: Second Timer, a second sentence.

the vagina.

[1927		‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana I 119: My mother made me promise never to let a fellow put his hand under my skirts. But if you’ll put your hand down my back, it’s the second hole you come to!].
2001		posting at www.visordown.com 2 May 🌐 Second hole from the back of the neck ! or if you miss you hit the chocolate star fish.
2002		posting at Toymods Car Club (Aus.) 26 Sept. 🌐 Hope ya have a good one when you go out tonight and pop ya cherry. Just remember that its the second hole from the back of the neck.

(US) a break-in, spec. one that involves climbing above ground level; also attrib.

1900		A.H. Lewis ‘The Garrote’ Sandburrs 134: I never gets a tip of any big second-story woik d’ Face does.
1904		O. Kildare Good of the Wicked 17: ‘Second-story’ Connors and ‘Flim-flam’ Myers, two gentlemen depending on their wits for support.
1910		H. Hapgood Types from City Streets 315: Done any second-story work lately?
1916		J. Lait ‘Charlie the Wolf’ Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 31: He [...] got himself a room in a three-story house, on the second story. If he couldn’t do second-story work he could at least be on familiar ground. [Ibid.] 42: They said he could shinny up a porch post to jimmy a door for a second-storey ‘job’ better than Oliver Twist.
1929		E. Booth Stealing Through Life 76: Second-story work and active climbing about ledges was the scene that I held.
1930		‘Armitage Traill’ Scarface Ch. 4: He made it plain to Klondike [...] that he would not take a hand in second-story jobs.
1933		T.T. Flynn ‘The Deadly Orchid’ in Goodstone Pulps (1970) 109/2: There had been no second story work.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 202: second story work An upstairs burglary.
1952		(con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 197: You want to learn the second-storey trade, Max?
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 15: This does not mean every holdup, heisting or second-story job is acted and voted on by a select committee.

(US) a thief who climbs into buildings above the ground floor.

1872		E. Crapsey Nether Side of NY 18: Second-story sneaks [. . .] owe their name to a recently-devised expedient for reaching the coveted valuables of honesty. [...] While the inmates of the house are all down-stairs at dinner, the sneak boldly scales one of the pillars of the stoop, and thus reaches a second-floor window, which he opens with an admirable little apparatus specially prepared for the purpose. Once within the house, he has usually an easy task before him.
1882		A. Trumble Crooked Life in Nat. Police Gaz. 10 June 6/2: [Sneak thieves]s rarely, however, develop into ‘second story window operators’.
1886		T. Byrnes Professional Criminals of America 🌐 ‘Second-story’ thieves, after locating a house that they intend to rob in the early evening, watch until the tenants in a private residence are down stairs at dinner.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 251: People who all looked upon me as a second-storey worker trying to get the lay of the houses.
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 50: We could see ’em sneakin’ around the walls, like a bunch of second-story men new to their job.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 147: Say a ‘house man’ or a ‘sneak’ or a ‘second-story’ man or a ‘peteman’ — anything but ‘cracksman’.
1917		F. Packard Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) I ix: The Weasel was a dangerous man, one of the slickest second-story workers in the country.
1917		Blue Mountains Echo (NSW) 27 Apr. 3/6: ‘Cracksman’ is long out of date, - in the best circles of roguery they speak of a ‘yegg,’ a ‘second-storey man,’ or a ‘screwsman’ .
1919		H.C. Witwer Smile A Minute 243: He says another publisher has sent a second-story man around to his hotel to try and steal the first verse.
1926		C.J. Daly ‘Lurking Shadows’ Triple-X Mag. May 🌐 Stick-up men, gunmen, dope peddlers, second-story workers— [etc.].
1927		(con. 1904) H. Asbury Gangs of N.Y. 287: ‘Monk was a soft, easy-going fellow,’ said Kelly. ‘He had a gang of cowards behind him, second story men, yeggs, flat robbers and moll-buzzers.’.
1932		J. Dixon Free To Love 199: We might send a second-story man out to burglarize women’s desks and bring in their diaries.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl. 65: second-story man, second-story worker. A house burglar, often, one who works while the family is downstairs at dinner.
1933		T.T. Flynn ‘The Deadly Orchid’ in Goodstone Pulps (1970) 104: You were snooping in my packages like a second story mug.
1944		C.B. Davis Rebellion of Leo McGuire (1953) 40: Not a very good burglar, but just a run-of-the-mill second-storey worker.
1948		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 17 Jan. 21: The gun men, the lye throwers and the muggers and the second and sixth story [sic] men.
1948		Kerouac letter 8 Dec. in Charters I (1995) 175: Vicki living with second-story man in Queens.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 324: Second-story worker, A burglar who robs the second-story of a house, usually while the family is at dinner.
1956		F.O. Beck Hobohemia 80: We are radicals, pickpockets, second-story men and thinkers.
1958		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 1 Mar. 11: Hustling women, dope peddlers, hoodlums and second-story workers.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxix 4/4: second storey man: A cat burglar.
1976		R. Sabbag Snowblind (1978) 236: The creepers, and second-storey men who work the hotels.
1988		J. Healy Grass Arena (1990) 141: ‘A cat burglar.’ A second-storey man!
1998		M. Baker Bad Guys 26: I naively expected to dig up people who called themselves [...] second-story men.
2008		T. Piccirilli Fever Kill 93: A good second-story man could get up on the roof, and the screens could easily be popped out of the window frames.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 75: Shoplifters, second-story men, Dumpster divers.