puppyhood

plural puppyhoods · alternative puppihood

1. countableuncountableThe state of being a puppy (young dog).

   "The snake," I whispered, feeling very frightened at what had become of our dog, for we were devoted to him, having brought him up from his puppyhood.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 95

2. broadlycountableuncountableYouth and adolescence, especially that of a conceited and impertinent young man.

   During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat; he had a fine pride in himself, was even a trifle egotistical, as country gentlemen sometimes become because of their insular situation.

   1903 July, Jack London, “Into the Primitive”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, pages 18–19