dictionary definitions for "time"


From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:

  time
      n 1: an instance or single occasion for some event; "this time he
           succeeded"; "he called four times"; "he could do ten at
           a clip" [syn: clip]
      2: an indefinite period (usually marked by specific attributes
         or activities); "he waited a long time"; "the time of year
         for planting"; "he was a great actor is his time"
      3: a period of time considered as a resource under your control
         and sufficient to accomplish something; "take time to
         smell the roses"; "I didn't have time to finish"; "it took
         more than half my time"
      4: a suitable moment; "it is time to go"
      5: the continuum of experience in which events pass from the
         future through the present to the past
      6: the time as given by a clock; "do you know what time it
         is?"; "the time is 10 o'clock" [syn: clock time]
      7: the fourth coordinate that is required (along with three
         spatial dimensions) to specify a physical event [syn:
         fourth dimension]
      8: a person's experience on a particular occasion; "he had a
         time holding back the tears"; "they had a good time
         together"
      9: rhythm as given by division into parts of equal time [syn:
         meter, metre]
      10: the period of time a prisoner is imprisoned; "he served a
          prison term of 15 months"; "his sentence was 5 to 10
          years"; "he is doing time in the county jail" [syn:
          prison term, sentence]
      v 1: measure the time or duration of an event or action or the
           person who performs an action in a certain period of
           time; "he clocked the runners" [syn: clock]
      2: assign a time for an activity or event; "The candidate
         carefully timed his appearance at the disaster scene"
      3: set the speed, duration, or execution of; "we time the
         process to manufacture our cars very precisely"
      4: regulate or set the time of; "time the clock"
      5: adjust so that a force is applied an an action occurs at the
         desired time; "The good player times his swing so as to
         hit the ball squarely"

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Time \Time\ (t[imac]m), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Timed (t[imac]md);
     p. pr. & vb. n. Timing.]
     1. To appoint the time for; to bring, begin, or perform at
        the proper season or time; as, he timed his appearance
        rightly.
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              There is no greater wisdom than well to time the
              beginnings and onsets of things.      --Bacon.
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     2. To regulate as to time; to accompany, or agree with, in
        time of movement.
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              Who overlooked the oars, and timed the stroke.
                                                    --Addison.
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              He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
              Was timed with dying cries.           --Shak.
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     3. To ascertain or record the time, duration, or rate of; as,
        to time the speed of horses, or hours for workmen.
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     4. To measure, as in music or harmony.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Time \Time\, v. i.
     1. To keep or beat time; to proceed or move in time.
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              With oar strokes timing to their song. --Whittier.
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     2. To pass time; to delay. [Obs.]
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Time \Time\, n.; pl. Times. [OE. time, AS. t[imac]ma, akin to
     t[imac]d time, and to Icel. t[imac]mi, Dan. time an hour, Sw.
     timme. [root]58. See Tide, n.]
     1. Duration, considered independently of any system of
        measurement or any employment of terms which designate
        limited portions thereof.
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              The time wasteth [i. e. passes away] night and day.
                                                    --Chaucer.
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              I know of no ideas . . . that have a better claim to
              be accounted simple and original than those of space
              and time.                             --Reid.
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     2. A particular period or part of duration, whether past,
        present, or future; a point or portion of duration; as,
        the time was, or has been; the time is, or will be.
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              God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake
              in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
                                                    --Heb. i. 1.
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     3. The period at which any definite event occurred, or person
        lived; age; period; era; as, the Spanish Armada was
        destroyed in the time of Queen Elizabeth; -- often in the
        plural; as, ancient times; modern times.
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     4. The duration of one's life; the hours and days which a
        person has at his disposal.
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              Believe me, your time is not your own; it belongs to
              God, to religion, to mankind.         --Buckminster.
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     5. A proper time; a season; an opportunity.
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              There is . . . a time to every purpose. --Eccl. iii.
                                                    1.
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              The time of figs was not yet.         --Mark xi. 13.
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     6. Hour of travail, delivery, or parturition.
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              She was within one month of her time. --Clarendon.
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     7. Performance or occurrence of an action or event,
        considered with reference to repetition; addition of a
        number to itself; repetition; as, to double cloth four
        times; four times four, or sixteen.
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              Summers three times eight save one.   --Milton.
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     8. The present life; existence in this world as contrasted
        with immortal life; definite, as contrasted with infinite,
        duration.
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              Till time and sin together cease.     --Keble.
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     9. (Gram.) Tense.
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     10. (Mus.) The measured duration of sounds; measure; tempo;
         rate of movement; rhythmical division; as, common or
         triple time; the musician keeps good time.
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               Some few lines set unto a solemn time. --Beau. &
                                                    Fl.
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     Note: Time is often used in the formation of compounds,
           mostly self-explaining; as, time-battered,
           time-beguiling, time-consecrated, time-consuming,
           time-enduring, time-killing, time-sanctioned,
           time-scorner, time-wasting, time-worn, etc.
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     Absolute time, time irrespective of local standards or
        epochs; as, all spectators see a lunar eclipse at the same
        instant of absolute time.
  
     Apparent time, the time of day reckoned by the sun, or so
        that 12 o'clock at the place is the instant of the transit
        of the sun's center over the meridian.
  
     Astronomical time, mean solar time reckoned by counting the
        hours continuously up to twenty-four from one noon to the
        next.
  
     At times, at distinct intervals of duration; now and then;
        as, at times he reads, at other times he rides.
  
     Civil time, time as reckoned for the purposes of common
        life in distinct periods, as years, months, days, hours,
        etc., the latter, among most modern nations, being divided
        into two series of twelve each, and reckoned, the first
        series from midnight to noon, the second, from noon to
        midnight.
  
     Common time (Mil.), the ordinary time of marching, in which
        ninety steps, each twenty-eight inches in length, are
        taken in one minute.
  
     Equation of time. See under Equation, n.
  
     In time.
         (a) In good season; sufficiently early; as, he arrived in
             time to see the exhibition.
         (b) After a considerable space of duration; eventually;
             finally; as, you will in time recover your health and
             strength.
  
     Mean time. See under 4th Mean.
  
     Quick time (Mil.), time of marching, in which one hundred
        and twenty steps, each thirty inches in length, are taken
        in one minute.
  
     Sidereal time. See under Sidereal.
  
     Standard time, the civil time that has been established by
        law or by general usage over a region or country. In
        England the standard time is Greenwich mean solar time. In
        the United States and Canada four kinds of standard time
        have been adopted by the railroads and accepted by the
        people, viz., Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific
        time, corresponding severally to the mean local times of
        the 75th, 90th, 105th, and 120th meridians west from
        Greenwich, and being therefore five, six, seven, and eight
        hours slower than Greenwich time.
  
     Time ball, a ball arranged to drop from the summit of a
        pole, to indicate true midday time, as at Greenwich
        Observatory, England. --Nichol.
  
     Time bargain (Com.), a contract made for the sale or
        purchase of merchandise, or of stock in the public funds,
        at a certain time in the future.
  
     Time bill. Same as Time-table. [Eng.]
  
     Time book, a book in which is kept a record of the time
        persons have worked.
  
     Time detector, a timepiece provided with a device for
        registering and indicating the exact time when a watchman
        visits certain stations in his beat.
  
     Time enough, in season; early enough. "Stanly at Bosworth
        field, . . . came time enough to save his life." --Bacon.
  
     Time fuse, a fuse, as for an explosive projectile, which
        can be so arranged as to ignite the charge at a certain
        definite interval after being itself ignited.
  
     Time immemorial, or Time out of mind. (Eng. Law) See
        under Immemorial.
  
     Time lock, a lock having clockwork attached, which, when
        wound up, prevents the bolt from being withdrawn when
        locked, until a certain interval of time has elapsed.
  
     Time of day, salutation appropriate to the times of the
        day, as "good morning," "good evening," and the like;
        greeting.
  
     To kill time. See under Kill, v. t.
  
     To make time.
         (a) To gain time.
         (b) To occupy or use (a certain) time in doing something;
             as, the trotting horse made fast time.
  
     To move against time, To run against time, or {To go
     against time}, to move, run, or go a given distance without a
        competitor, in the quickest possible time; or, to
        accomplish the greatest distance which can be passed over
        in a given time; as, the horse is to run against time.
  
     True time.
         (a) Mean time as kept by a clock going uniformly.
         (b) (Astron.) Apparent time as reckoned from the transit
             of the sun's center over the meridian.
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