Puberty

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Puberty \Pu"ber*ty\, n. [L. pubertas, fr. puber, pubes, adult:
     cf. F. pubert['e].]
     1. The earliest age at which persons are capable of begetting
        or bearing children, usually considered, in temperate
        climates, to be about fourteen years in males and twelve
        in females.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Bot.) The period when a plant first bears flowers.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  puberty
       n : the time of life when sex glands become functional [syn: {pubescence}]

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PUBERTY, civil law. The age in boys after fourteen years until full age, and 
  in girls after twelve years until full age. Ayl. Pand. 63; Hall's Pract. 14; 
  Toull. Dr. Civ. Fr. tom. 6, p. 100; Inst. 1, 22; Dig. 1, 7, 40, 1; Code, 5, 
  60, 3.