Definition of "childhood"

childhood

/ˈt͡ʃaɪldhʊd/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural childhoods
1. (chiefly uncountable) The state of being a child.
  Quotations
  To our own surprise, our 40-year study of 1,000 children revealed that childhood self-control strongly predicts adult success, in people of high or low intelligence, in rich or poor, and does so throughout the entire population, with a step change in health, wealth, and social success at every level of self-control.
  2013 September-October, Terrie Moffitt et al., “Lifelong Impact of Early Self-Control”, in American Scientist
2. The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.
  Quotations
  He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood.
  1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess‎
3. (by extension) The early stages of development of something.
  Quotations
  the childhood of our joy
  c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iii]