‘Is Al there?’ ‘Hold on a sec, I’ll check.’secsec /sek/ noun 
‘Is Al there?’ ‘Hold on a sec, I’ll check.’in a sec I’ll be with you in a sec.2the written abbreviation of second: Journey time: 25 mins 14 secs.
WORD ORIGINsec
Origin:
1800-1900 ➔ SECOND2EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- Berger crossed the line, his fuel reading zero and Schumacher just 0.7 secs behind.
- Catherine Allsopp ran an intelligently-paced race in the 800 metres, finishing third in 2 mins 11.36 secs.
- His time of 3 mins 59.4 sec had left him exhausted to the point of collapse.
- Hold the phone there, a sec, Dex.
- Jim Boyd finished in 36 mins. 13 secs.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
1 a sec spoken informal a very short period of timehang on a sec/hold on a sec/just a sec etc (=wait a short time) (=wait a short time) ‘Is Al there?’ ‘Hold on a sec, I’ll check.’
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB ‘Is Al there?’ ‘Hold on a sec, I’ll check.’· The Gateshead Harrier clocked 8 mins 38.7 secs to eclipse Dennis Coates' time of 8:48.0, set in 1981.· Under the weather or not Ashcroft clocked 2 mins 13.8 secs, almost a second faster than her winning time last year.· Livingstone clocked 18 mins 6 secs for the 3 1/2 miles in heavy rain, beating Vose by ten metres.
‘Is Al there?’ ‘Hold on a sec, I’ll check.’in a sec I’ll be with you in a sec.2the written abbreviation of second: Journey time: 25 mins 14 secs.