1.
[syn: puberty, pubescence]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
puberty
n 1: the time of life when sex glands become functional [syn:
puberty, pubescence]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
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.