puberty

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

puberty
    n 1: the time of life when sex glands become functional [syn:
         {puberty}, {pubescence}]

from 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]

from 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.

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