dated

en-adj

dated (comparative more dated, superlative most dated)

more dated (comparative)
most dated (superlative)

Then ſtrike vp Drum, and al the ſtarres that make
The loathſome Circle of my dated life,
Direct my weapon to his barbarous heart,
That thus oppoſeth him againſt the Gods,
And ſcornes the Powers that gouerne Perſea.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vi:


semester

semesters (plural)
semestre (alternative obsolete)

From German Semester, from New Latin sēmestris (“lasting six months”), from sex (“six”) + mēnsis (“month”).

der

I will graduate at the end of the spring semester.

Half of a school year (US) or academic year such as autumn or spring semester.


trimester

PIE word
 *tréyes
From French trimestre, from Latin trimestris (“of three months”), from trēs (“three”) + mensis (“month”).

She is in the second trimester of her first pregnancy.

A period of three months or about three months; (financial): quarter.


childhood

en-noun

childhood (countable and uncountable, plural childhoods)

From Middle English childhode, childhod, from Old English ċildhād (“childhood”), equivalent to child + -hood. Compare dialectal Dutch kindheid (“childishness”), German Low German Kinnerheid (“childhood”), and German Kindheit (“childhood”).

cog

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: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.


biannual

The relative share of agriculture in GDP of the West Bank (calculated on the basis of fixed 1986 prices, and as a two-year average to deal with the major biannual fluctuations in olive production) declined[…].

1993, Agriculture: An Investment in Peace (Developing the Occupied Territories; 4), Washington, D.C.: World Bank Publications, →ISBN, page 1:

Thus he argues that the members of the National Assembly were independent from the constituencies that elected them, because the latter (the assemblies, administrative and elected) are "biennially renewed," as was the National Assembly. […] This [being responsible to electors] is implicitly the case of the representatives in the National Assembly, who must also face biannual elections[…].

1997, Steven Blakemore, Intertextual War: Edmund Burke and the French Revolution in the Writings of Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Paine, and James Mackintosh, Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, →ISBN, pages 190–192:

Now, after having solved the biannual period problem back to period one of the ten biannual periods, i.e. quarters 77–84 it is necessary to convert the state variables, namely n, SK and GK, from biannual to annual units.

2001, Kenneth I. Wolpin, Empirical Methods for the Study of Labor Force Dynamics (Fundamentals of Pure and Applied Economics; 60), Routledge, →ISBN, page 84:

"The Earth Charter opens a new phase[…]." (Mikhail Gorbachev, as quoted in The Earth Charter Initiative, Biannual Report 2002–2003, Earth Charter International Secretariat, http://www.earthcharter.org/files/resources/Biannual%20Report.pdf, p 10,[…]).

2004, Lee Penn, “The Earth Charter”, in False Dawn: The United Religions Initiative, Globalism, and the Quest for a One-world Religion, Hillsdale, N.Y.: Sophia Perennis, →ISBN, page 380, footnote 5:

(proscribed) Occurring once every two years; biennial.


whenever

From Middle English whan evere, whanne ever, whanne evere, whener, when ever; equivalent to when + ever.

Visit whenever you want to.

I did not see the program, but Mrs. Nixon told me that you were great on the Donahue Show.
As you can imagine, she is an expert on politics and she predicts that whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!

1987 December 21, Richard Nixon, Letters to Trump, Winning Team Publishing, published 2023, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 10:

Tomorrow I'll get up whenever the sun rises.

At the (single) time that, no matter when.

Whenever he has a pair of aces, his eyelids twitch.

Working around an ancient monument has meant having an archaeologist on site whenever there were excavations.

2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University challenge”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 61:

Income must be reported in the period in which it is earned, whenever payment is actually received.


whenever

1. Scottish2. from Middle English mid3. old dialectal form

Feel free to visit whenever.


Middle Ages

the Middle Ages (canonical)
Middle Age (alternative)
middle Age (alternative)
middle age (alternative)
Middle ages (alternative)
middle Ages (alternative)
middle ages (alternative)
Mid. Ages (alternative abbreviation)

The Geography of the middle Ages, ſays Mr. Juncker, ought to begin with the Diviſion of the Roman Empire made by Theodoſius the Great, about the End of the fourth Century, and muſt not reach farther than the Time of the Emperor Maximilian I. who divided Germany into Circles in the beginning of the XVIth Century.

1722, Memoirs of Literature, second edition, volume VI, London: Robert Knaplock · Paul Vaillant, article xxxix. Leipsick., page 296:

Middle''' Age denotes the ſpace of time commencing from Conſtantine, and ending at the taking of Conſtantinople by the Turks, in the fifteenth century. Martin. Dial. Geogr. in Pref. Mem. de Trev. an. 1729. p. 1359. See alſo Bibl. Univ. T. 12. p. 393. ſeq.

1753, Ephraim Chambers, edited by George Lewis Scott and John Hill, A Supplement to Mr. Chambers’s Cyclopædia; or, Univerſal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences., volume I, London: several publishers, s.v. AGE, subentry Middle''' Age:

The Third and last Part will be rather Historical than Critical, being an Essay on the Taste and Literature of the middle Age.

a. 1780, James Harris, Philological Inquiries, in three parts, part I, London: Charles Nourse, published 1781, epistle dedicatory, page 4:

The Interval between the fall of these two Empires (the Weſtern or Latin in the fifth Century, the Eaſtern or Grecian in the fifteenth) making a ſpace of near a thouſand years, conſtitutes what we call the Middle Age.
The Middle Age in this usage spans the years 476–1453.

The Middle Ages, according to the division I have adopted, comprize about one thousand years, from the invasion of France by Clovis to that of Naples by Charles VIII.

1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, third edition, volume III, London: John Murray, published 1822, chapter ix: “On the State of Society in Europe during the Middle Ages.”, part i, page 304:

A term usually employed to denote, somewhat vaguely, a space of several centuries in European annals, intervening between what are called the ancient and modern periods of history. The centuries between the ninth or tenth and the end of the fifteenth after Christ are generally comprehended under this loose denomination. In the work of Mr. Hallam on the Middle Ages, that historian has assumed as his period of commencement the conquest of Gaul by the Franks, about A. D. 500; and, for his conclusion, the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII., about 1500; and with reference to the affairs of the Greeks and their oriental neighbours, he places, as the most convenient limit between ancient and modern history, the era of Mohammed.

1842, William Thomas Brande, Joseph Cauvin, editors, A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, s.v. MIʹDDLE AGES, page 741/1:

His acquaintance with the Middle Age generally may without injustice be pronounced slight; and though well informed as to the history of the Continent, his knowledge of it, as we shall have occasion to see, was not so accurate or deep.

1882, James Cotter Morison, Macaulay (English Men of Letters), New York: Harper & Brothers, chapter iii: “The ‘Essays.’”, page 70:

Within two centuries of its [scil. the Nicene Creed’s] promulgation, the Græco-Roman world had descended into the great hollow which is roughly called the Middle Ages, extending from the fifth to the fifteenth century, a hollow in which many great, beautiful and heroic things were done and created, but in which knowledge, as we understand it, and as Aristotle understood it, had no place.

1887, James Cotter Morison, The Service of Man. An Essay towards the Religion of the Future., London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., chapter vii: “What Christianity has done”, pages 177–178:

She could see the town below her, nestled on top of a low hill, surrounded by a crenellated wall from the Middle Ages.

2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl; book 1 of 8), Viking, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 52:

(history) The period of primarily European history between the decline of the Western Roman Empire (antiquity) and the early modern period or the Renaissance; the time between c. 500 and 1500 CE.


ago

From Middle English ago, agon (“passed”), past participle of agon (“to depart, escape, pass”), from Old English āgān (“to go away, pass away, go forth, come to pass”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”), *gāną (“to go”), equivalent to a- + gone, and by surface analysis, a- + go. Cognate with German ergehen (“to come to pass, fare, go forth”). Compare also Old Saxon āgangan (“to go or pass by”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (usgaggan, “to go forth”).

cog

agoe (alternative obsolete)
agon (alternative obsolete)
agone (alternative obsolete)
ygo (alternative obsolete)
ygoe (alternative obsolete)

I got married ten years ago.

Two years ago a pair of scientists sparked fears of a devastating virus.

2013 August 10, “Damned if you don’t”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

When they first met in 2000, my dad told my mom how he had gotten the money. The story begins 20 years ago.

It was two weeks ago that I saw her last.

-a/-e/-ja/-je (e.g. egy órája: one hour ago)


duration

en-noun

duration (countable and uncountable, plural durations)

/djʊˈɹeɪʃn̩/

/dʒʊˈɹeɪʃn̩/

/djəˈɹeɪʃn̩/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Samuel Muldoon (Muldoonsamuel55)-duration.wav

From Middle English duracioun, from late Old French duracion, from Medieval Latin dūrātiō.

The duration of the flight will be about 2 hours 45 minutes.

She was moaning for the entire duration of the advert break.

To make matters worse, we pass through a torrential rainstorm, which makes window-gazing almost impossible, leaving me glad that the trip is less than 30 minutes duration.

2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55:

An amount of time or a particular time interval.

Rationing will last at least for the duration.

(in the singular, not followed by "of") The time taken for the current situation to end, especially the current war.


interval

From Middle English interval, intervalle, from Old French intervalle, entreval, from Latin intervallum (“space between, interval, distance, interval of time, pause, difference; literally, space between two palisades or walls”), from inter (“between”) + vallum (“palisade, wall”).

com

the interval between contractions during childbirth

Spain made three substitutions at the interval, sending on former Arsenal captain Fabregas, Chelsea's Juan Mata and Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina for Xavi, David Silva and Casillas.

2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport:

(sports) half time, a scheduled intermission between the periods of play


always

From Middle English alwayes, allwayes, allweyes, a variant of Middle English allwaye, alwey, alle wey (“always”), from Old English ealneġ, ealneweġ (“always, perpetually”, literally “all the way, all the while, continuously”), from ealne + weġ (accusative case), equivalent to alway + -s. Cognate with Scots alwayis (“always”), Low German allerwegens (“very often”, literally “all ways'”). More at all, way.

cog

alwayes (alternative obsolete)
alwayz (alternative obsolete)
alwayez (alternative obsolete)
allus (alternative pronunciation-spelling)

it is always darkest just before the dawn

the cobbler always wears the worst shoes

the darkest hour is always just before the dawn

the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

the grass is always greener on the other side of the road

the shoemaker always wears the worst shoes

we have always been at war with Eastasia

God is always the same.

Green has always been my favorite color. I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember.

Airplanes did not always exist as a form of transportation.

Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

At all times; throughout all time; since the beginning.


horology

en-noun

horology (usually uncountable, plural horologies)

From Latin horologia, from horo- + -logia, equivalent to Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “period of time, hour”) + -λογία (-logía, “-ology: study or proper knowledge of”). Equivalent to horo- + -ology.

der

The study or measurement of time, particularly:

The art, science, and technology of making and maintaining timekeeping devices such as clocks, watches and sundials.

orologia

art, science, and technology of timekeeping

(Eastern Orthodoxy) The book of the offices for the canonical hours.


ancient

en-adj

ancient (comparative ancienter or more ancient, superlative ancientest or most ancient)

ancienter (comparative)
more ancient (comparative)
ancientest (superlative)
most ancient (superlative)
anchient (alternative obsolete)
aunchient (alternative obsolete)
auncient (alternative obsolete)
auntient (alternative obsolete)
awncient (alternative obsolete)
awntient (alternative obsolete)
ancyent (alternative obsolete)
antient (alternative)

From Middle English auncyen, from Old French ancien, from Vulgar Latin *anteānus, composed of Latin ante (“before”) + -ānus (adjective-forming suffix). The non-etymological /t/ is by analogy with the common ending -ent.

an ancient author

an ancient empire

Buried within the Mediterranean littoral are some seventy to ninety million tons of slag from ancient smelting, about a third of it concentrated in Iberia. This ceaseless industrial fueling caused the deforestation of an estimated fifty to seventy million acres of woodlands.

2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion, →OL:

Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

2013 July–August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates promoted wine for various purposes, including reducing fevers and dressing wounds.

2022 January 22, Jonathan Reiner, “If you think that glass of wine is good for you, it’s time to reconsider”, in CNN:

Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.

(history) Relating to antiquity as a primarily European historical period; the time before the Middle Ages.


ancient

ancients (plural)
anchient (alternative obsolete)
aunchient (alternative obsolete)
auncient (alternative obsolete)
auntient (alternative obsolete)
awncient (alternative obsolete)
awntient (alternative obsolete)
ancyent (alternative obsolete)
antient (alternative)

What is ancient for us was in its own time a reworking of what was ancient for the ancients.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 210:


Abbreviated from "year 2000", with "K" standing for 1000, as in the prefix kilo- though capital K as a prefix is often used as x1024. The correct S.I. Prefix is lowercase k.


antediluvian

antediluvian (comparative more antediluvian, superlative most antediluvian)

more antediluvian (comparative)
most antediluvian (superlative)
antedeluvian (alternative)

PIE word
 *dwís
From ante- (prefix meaning ‘prior to in time’) + Latin dīluvium (“a flood”) + -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming agent nouns), referring the story of Noah’s Ark, through which God rescues Noah, his family, and examples of all the world’s animals from the great flood, which is related in Genesis 6–9 of the Bible. Dīluvium is derived from dīluō (“to wash away”) (from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder, in two’) + lavō (“to wash”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”))) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The English word is analyzable as ante- + diluvian.
Sense 2 (“long extinct”) is from the fact that such animals and plants were originally believed to have perished in the biblical flood referred to above.

անդրջրհեղեղյան

of animals and plants: long extinct — see also prehistoric

[P]erhaps ſome perſons might outlive Methuſelah; the Text intending onely the maſculine line of Seth, conduceable unto the Genealogy of our Saviour, and the antediluvian Chronology.

1646, Thomas Browne, “Of Methuselah”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 7th book, pages 343–344:

For Noah, vvho had no doubt preach'd againſt the Vices of the Antediluvian VVorld, and againſt Drunkenneſs among the reſt, muſt certainly knovv the Uſe of the Vine, and the Abuſe of it too; hovv elſe did he come to plant it at all, and to preſs the Juice out for Drinking it at all?

1727, [Daniel Defoe], “Of what Shapes the Devil Assum’d in His First Appearances to the Magicians, and Others, in the First Ages of the World; and whether He is, or has been,, Allow’d to Assume a Human Shape, or No”, in A System of Magick; or, A History of the Black Art. […], London: […] J. Roberts […], →OCLC, page 95:

The great Egyptian age is but a remnant of the Atlantean culture / The antediluvian kings colonized the world / All the gods who play in the mythological dramas / In all legends from all lands were from fair Atlantis

1968 November, Donovan Leitch, “Atlantis”, in Barabajagal, performed by Donovan, New York, N.Y.: Epic Records, →OCLC:

(biblical) Belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, or (by extension) to a great or destructive flood or deluge described in other mythologies.

անդրջրհեղեղյան

belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis

անդրջրհեղեղյան

belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior to a great or destructive flood or deluge described in other mythologies

[H]is eldest son Bo-bo, […] let some sparks escape into a bundle of straw, which kindling quickly, spread the conflagration over every part of their poor mansion, till it was reduced to ashes. Together with the cottage (a sorry antediluvian make-shift of a building, you may think it), what was of much more importance, a fine litter of new-farrowed pigs, no less than nine in number, perished.

1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “A Dissertation upon a Roast Pig”, in Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 277:

There was an antediluvian tradition (much older than Shakespeare) that on Midsummer's Night young people should go with lanterns, and a fiddler, and a keg or two of cider, to a patch of turf known as Donkey's Green in the heart of the woods and there celebrate the solstice with dancing.

1969 November 10, John Fowles, chapter 12, in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1st US edition, Boston, Mass.; Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company […], →OCLC, page 90:

The air inside smelled antediluvian, regal somehow, with traces of pipe tobacco, tea leaves, cooking sherry, and the earthen aroma of stone architecture.

2003, Dan Brown, chapter 54, in The Da Vinci Code, [London]: BCA, published 2005, page 226:

If we agree with [Alan] Blinder's assessment, we must acknowledge the pressing need to inject new ideas into an old system—a system so antediluvian that it is, remarkably, still based on the agrarian calendar.

2010, Sam Chaltain, “Connect (or, Make the Connections that Let You ‘See the Whole Board’)”, in American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Education, →ISBN, page 41:

(figurative, hyperbolic, chiefly humorous)

Of a person or thing: very old; ancient.


antediluvian

(biblical) A person who lived in the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, especially one of the biblical patriarchs.


antebellum

From the Latin ante bellum (literally “before the war”).

bor

A renewed sense of national pride arose in Hitler's antebellum Germany.

Slavery was an accepted part of antebellum plantation life.

There was no single characteristic house style during the antebellum period, but the elegant plantation homes built in the American South, with their central entrances, balconies, columns, and formal ballrooms, came closest to representing a discrete architectural style for the period.

2004, James M. Volo, Dorothy Denneen Volo, The Antebellum Period, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 115:

(US) Of the period prior to the American Civil War, especially in reference to the culture of the southern states.


REM

Clippings
* (remaining time): Clipping of remaining.
* (remark): Clipping of remark.


period

periods (plural)
per. (alternative abbreviation)

frequency

antonym(s) of “length of time of recurrence of a periodic phenomenon”

/ˈpɪə.ɹɪ.əd/

From Middle English periode, from Middle French periode, from Medieval Latin periodus, from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, “circuit, orbit, a recurring interval of time, path around”), from περι- (peri-, “around”) + ὁδός (hodós, “way”). Displaced native Middle English tide (“interval, period, season”), from Old English tīd (“time, period, season”), as well as Middle English elde (“age, period”), from Old English ieldu (“age, period of time”).

periudhë

history: period of time seen as coherent entity

periodike

length of time during which something repeats

There was a period of confusion following the announcement.

You'll be on probation for a six-month period.

Philip Miles, defending, said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."

2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in Guardian:

Food rationing continued in the post-war period.

With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

A length of time in history seen as a single coherent entity; an epoch, era.

The length of time during which the same characteristics of a periodic phenomenon recur, such as the repetition of a wave or the rotation of a planet.

(obsolete, medicine) The length of time for a disease to run its course.


yottasecond

Trades Descriptions Act... "always on" presumably means 100.00 % uptime for the rest of infinity with nary a yottasecond's downtime.

2000 October 31, Joe Harrison <joe.harrison@ANT15P4M.teamware.co.uk>, “Re: Bt openworld limitations .. post `em here”, in uk.telecom.broadband (Usenet), message-ID <8tms8c$2arb$1@news.icl.se>:

Basically, I want yottaseconds and yoctoyears calculated with the same datatype for normal time.

2009 February 20, Larry Wall <larry@wall.org>, “Re: r25445 - docs/Perl6/Spec/S32-setting-library”, in perl.perl6.language (Usenet), message-ID <20090220171124.GA18585@wall.org>:

12.7 furlongs per fortnight in parsecs per yottasecond

2009 April 3, <timewarp2008@yahoo.com>, “Re: The first rule of marriage”, in soc.religion.quaker,alt.stupidity (Usenet), message-ID <3ff2d63e-89dd-4c2d-bf14-995ec7088b92@y13g2000yqn.googlegroups.com>:

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10²⁴ seconds. Symbol: Ys


zettasecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10²¹ seconds. Symbol: Zs


terasecond

The solar system has been in existence for about 150000 teraseconds and may well remain in existence without major change for 500000 additional teraseconds.

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10¹² seconds. Symbol: Ts


gigasecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁹ seconds. Symbol: Gs


megasecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁶ seconds. Symbol: Ms


kilosecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10³ seconds. Symbol: ks


centisecond

From centi- + second, modelled on French centiseconde.

A unit of time equal to 0.01 seconds and with symbol cs.


microfortnight

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-microfortnight.wav

DWORD (big-endian) microfortnights between pings

1994, Ralf D. Brown, Jim Kyle, Network interrupts: a programmer's reference to network APIs:

A microfortnight is treated as equivalent to a second.

1994, Ruth E Goldenberg, Saro Saravanan, OpenVMS AXP internals and data structures: version 1.5:

“[…] The whole thing takes about a microfortnight.” ¶ “What’s a microfortnight?” I asked. ¶ “About one-point-two seconds,” DiFrancesco answered, as if I were the stupidest man alive. […]

2001, Colin Harrison, Bodies Electric, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 115:

2009, nev young, “Hey ... Just hang on a microfortnight”, in uk.rec.sheds (Usenet):

(humorous) A period of time equal to one millionth of a fortnight, or exactly 1.2096 seconds.


until

From Middle English vntil, until, untill, ontil, ontill, perhaps representing a northern variant of Middle English unto (see Modern English unto). By surface analysis, un- (“against; toward; up to”) + till.

surf

If you can wait until after my meeting with her, we'll talk then.

Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.

2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

Up to the time of (something happening); pending.

I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."

2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:


until

it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye

never put off until tomorrow what you can do today

the jug goes to the well until it breaks

you never miss the water until the well runs dry

Not until I got his email did I fully understand his disappointment.

It took us a week before/until we got the house repainted.

It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street.[…]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.

1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

Up to the time that (a condition becomes true).


term

From Middle English terme, borrowed from Old French terme, from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end; in Medieval Latin, also a time, period, word, covenant, etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *térmn̥ (“stump, end, boundary”).
Doublet of terminus and termon. Old English had termen, from the same source.

términu

one of the addends in a sum or in another mathematical operation

Duration of officeholding, or its limit; period in office of fixed length.

The time during which legal courts are open.


epoch

From Medieval Latin epocha, from Ancient Greek ἐποχή (epokhḗ, “a check, cessation, stop, pause, epoch of a star, i.e., the point at which it seems to halt after reaching the highest, and generally the place of a star; hence, a historical epoch”), from ἐπέχω (epékhō, “I hold in, check”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “upon”) + ἔχω (ékhō, “I have, hold”). Doublet of epoche.

I grew bitter in my words—I believed the worst of everyone; nay, I sometimes doubted the affection of my kind, my indulgent parents. But let me hastily pass over this vain and profitless epoch,—the fierce tempest, and the weary calm, were but the appointed means by which I reached the harbour of faith and rest.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 198:

And it occasionally happens that a period in which one had, hitherto, been mainly looking for the coming to birth of new things, suddenly reveals itself as an epoch of fading and decay.

1924, F. Hopman, transl., The Waning of the Middle Ages, translation of Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen by Johan Huizinga:

A particular period of history, or of a person's life, especially one considered noteworthy or remarkable.

UNIX epoch; J2000 epoch

Appendix A gives formulae for the calculation of the orbital elements of the planets at any time referred to the mean ecliptic and equinox of the epoch of noon on 1st January 2000; this is called the J2000 epoch.

2000, Carl D. Murray, Stanley F. Dermott, Solar System Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN:

There are two major epoch times associated with most timestamps: 1970-01-01 00:00:00 and 1601-01-01 00:00:00. The first, starting in 1970, is traditionally referred to as POSIX time as it is a common timestamp in UNIX and UNIX-like systems.

2016, Preston Miller, Chapin Bryce, Learning Python for Forensics, Packt Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 281:

The .NET epoch is midnight at the start of January 1st, AD 1, although that's AD 1 in a proleptic Gregorian calendar, which refers to even more complexity we haven't talked about yet.

2022, Tomasz Lelek, Jon Skeet, Software Mistakes and Tradeoffs: How to Make Good Programming Decisions, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 155:

(chronology, astronomy, computing) A specific instant in time, chosen as the point of reference or zero value of a system that involves identifying instants of time.


epoch

en-verb

epoch (third-person singular simple present epochs, present participle epoching, simple past and past participle epoched)

epochs (present singular third-person)
epoching (participle present)
epoched (participle past)
epoched (past)
epocha (alternative)

The continuous data were epoched into segments of 1500 ms (starting 500 ms before visual stimulus onset), time-locked to stimulus onset (0 ms) and sorted according to experimental conditions.

2015 July 6, “Stronger Neural Modulation by Visual Motion Intensity in Autism Spectrum Disorders”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(sciences, transitive) To divide (data) into segments by time period.


soon

en-adj

soon (comparative sooner, superlative soonest)

sooner (comparative)
soonest (superlative)

From Middle English sone, from Old English sōna (“immediately, at once”), from Proto-West Germanic *sān(ō), from Proto-Germanic *sēna, *sēnô (“immediately, soon, then”), from *sa (demonstrative pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *só (demonstrative pronoun).
Cognate with Scots sone, sune, schone (“soon, quickly, at once”), North Frisian san (“immediately, at once”), dialectal Dutch zaan (“soon, before long”), Middle Low German sân (“right afterwards, soon”), Middle High German sān, son (“soon, then”), Old High German sār (“immediately, soon”). Compare also Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐍃 (suns, “immediately, soon”), from Proto-Germanic *suniz (“soon”).

cog

I need the soonest date you have available.

Short in length of time from the present.


soon

His wife is likely to come too after him, but we just do not know how soon after.

I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly,[…], down the nave to the western door.[…]At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese[…]began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. The poisoning was irreversible, and soon ended in psychosis and death.

2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:


sooner or later

He’ll turn up sooner or later.

Sooner or later / You hit the deck, you get found out / Save it for later / Don't run away and let me down

1982, The English Beat, “Save It for Later”, in Special Beat Service:

(set phrase) Eventually, at some undetermined time in the not-too-distant future.


cease

en-verb

cease (third-person singular simple present ceases, present participle ceasing, simple past and past participle ceased)

ceases (present singular third-person)
ceasing (participle present)
ceased (participle past)
ceased (past)
cease (infinitive)
cease (first-person present singular)
ceased (first-person past singular)
cease (present second-person singular)
ceasest (archaic present second-person singular)
ceased (past second-person singular)
ceasedst (archaic past second-person singular)
ceases (present singular third-person)
ceaseth (archaic present singular third-person)
ceased (past singular third-person)
cease (plural present)
ceased (past plural)
cease (present subjunctive)
ceased (past subjunctive)
cease (imperative present)
ceasing (participle present)
ceased (participle past)

From Middle English cesen, cessen, from Middle French cesser (“to cease”), from Latin cessō (“leave off”), frequentative of cēdō (“to leave off, go away”). Compare secede.

And with that, his twitching ceased.


past

From Middle English passed, past participle of passen (“to pass, to go by”), whence Modern English pass.

a book about a time machine that can transport people back into the past

1830, Daniel Webster, a speech
The past, at least, is secure.

The present is only intelligible in the light of the past, often a very remote past indeed.

1860, Richard Chenevix Trench, On the English Language, Past and Present:

Every time the little gate creaks--I'm in the shed with the tanks at the end of the garden--I wonder from which of my pasts the person is arriving, seeking me out even here: maybe it is only the past of yesterday and of this same suburb, the squat Arab garbage collector who in October begins his rounds for tips, house by house, with a Happy New Year card, because he says that his colleagues keep all the December tips for themselves and he never gets a penny; but it could also be the more distant pasts pursuing old Ruedi, finding the little gate in the Impasse: smugglers from Valais, mercenaries from Katanga, croupiers from the Veradero casino and the days of Fulgencio Batista.

1979, Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler:

The Mesozoic landscape of southeastern Utah can tell us much about the past, and it's one of the most intriguing and beautiful landscapes on Earth.

2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.


past

en-adj

past (comparative more past, superlative most past)

more past (comparative)
most past (superlative)

That had been, what, three years past?

1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 538:

Some four decades past, as a boy, I had a chance encounter and conversation with the late W.A. Poucher [...].

2009, John Sadler, Glencoe, Amberley, published 2009, page 20:

(postmodifier) Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago.

during the past year

Sarkozy's total will be seen as a personal failure. It is the first time an outgoing president has failed to win a first-round vote in the past 50 years and makes it harder for Sarkozy to regain momentum.

2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in The Guardian:

Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous.

անցյալ

of a period of time: having just gone by


past

What's the time? - It's now quarter past twelve midday (or 12.15pm) -O,K., we'll stop at half (past) twelve

But they were stunned when Glen Johnson's error let in Peter Odemwingie to fire past Pepe Reina on 75 minutes.

2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:

(time) Any number of minutes after the last hour


present

present (comparative more present, superlative most present)

more present (comparative)
most present (superlative)
præsent (alternative archaic)
ps. (alternative abbreviation)

slow-acting

antonym(s) of “having an immediate effect”

From Middle English present, from Old French present, from Latin praesent-, praesens, present participle of praeesse (“to be present”), from Latin prae- (“pre-”) + esse (“to be”).

The barbaric practice continues to the present day.

The present manager has been here longer than the last one.

up to the present day

All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion […] such talk had been distressingly out of place.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

Relating to now, for the time being; current.


present

presents (plural)
præsent (alternative archaic)
ps. (alternative abbreviation)


awhile

From Old English ane (“(for) a”) hwile (“while”).

Sit with me awhile.

Gratiano:
[…]Fare ye well awhile:
I'll end my exhortation after dinner.

c. 1596–97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 1, scene 1:

Engine No. 18 went off into a shed to rest awhile, and No. 7, a precisely similar one, backed on to the train in her place.

1944 May and June, “When the Circle was Steam Operated”, in Railway Magazine, page 137:

I'll slip beneath these sheets and shiver here awhile / I find this happening more frequently these days

1979, The Boomtown Rats, “Wind Chill Factor (Minus Zero)”, in The Fine Art of Surfacing:


medieval

medieval (comparative more medieval, superlative most medieval)

more medieval (comparative)
most medieval (superlative)
medieveal (alternative)
mediaeval (alternative dated)
mediæval (alternative archaic)

From French médiéval (“medieval”), from Latin medium (“middle”) + aevum (“age”).

Of or relating to the Middle Ages, the period from approximately 500 to 1500 AD.

միջնադարյան

having characteristics associated with the Middle Ages


in perpetuity

bequeathed to the nation in perpetuity

The interest payments on consols were in perpetuity.

Queen Victoria travelled to Chingford on May 6, 1882, to dedicate Epping Forest to the public in perpetuity.

1952 December, 'Icarus', “The Chingford Branch”, in Railway Magazine, page 793:


a.m.

Abbreviation of ante meridiem ("before noon").

a. m. (alternative)
am (alternative)
AM (alternative)
A. M. (alternative)
A.M. (alternative)
a (alternative)
A (alternative)

Greenfield … Monday thru Friday, 9 to 12 a.m.

1967, United States Travel Service, Plant Tours for International Visitors to the United States, page 49

One of the most common night shifts is the 12 a.m.-to-8 a.m. shift.

2001, Customs Service effects of proposed legislation on officers' pay, United States General Accounting Office, page 45:

We never say 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. It's either 12 midnight or 12 noon, respectively.

2007, Khurana Rohit, Number Game 4, page 144:

The 12-hour clock uses A.M. for the morning hours of midnight (12:00 A.M.) to almost noon (11:59 A.M.) and the P.M. designation for the hours from noon (12:00 P.M.) to almost midnight (11:59 PM).

2009, Robert Bill, Medical Mathematics and Dosage Calculations for Veterinary Professionals, page 348:

The 12-hour clock, which is used in the U.S., Canada, and a few other countries, divides time into two cycles: a.m. (ante meridiem, Latin for before midday) from midnight, 12 a.m., to 11:59 a.m.; and p.m. (post meridiem, Latin for after midday) from noon, 12 p.m., to 11:59 p.m.

2015, Arhlene A. Flowers, Global Writing for Public Relations, page 141:

The following daylight peaks are identified around lunchtime, from 12 am to 1 pm, while for weekend days, the curve show several daylight peaks from 7 am to late lunchtime, around 1 pm.

2021, Jukka Heinonen, Ortzi Akizu-Gardoki, Sanna Ala-Mantila, Energy Efficient Cities of Today and Tomorrow, page 196:

(used after the hour) In the 12-hour period from midnight to noon (the first half of the day) when using the 12-hour clock.

abínídą́ą́ʼ neeznáadi oolkił yę́ędą́ą́ʼ...


p.m.

Abbreviation of post mortem ("after death").

PM (alternative)
P. M. (alternative)
P.M. (alternative)
p. m. (alternative)
pm (alternative)
P (alternative US)
p (alternative US)


frequent

frequent (comparative more frequent or frequenter, superlative most frequent or frequentest)

more frequent (comparative)
frequenter (comparative)
most frequent (superlative)
frequentest (superlative)

From Old French frequent, from Latin frequens (“crowded, crammed, frequent, repeated, etc.”), possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰrekʷ- (“to cram together”).

der

I take frequent breaks so I don't get too tired.

There are frequent trains to the beach available.

I am a frequent visitor to that city.

During the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, this commitment brought him into frequent critical confrontation with entrenched forms of conservative thinking [...]

1999, Nicholas Walker, “The Reorientation of Critical Theory: Habermas”, in Simon Glemdinning, editor, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia of Continental Philosophy, Routledge, →ISBN, page 489:

Above, the frequent feudal towers / Through green leaves lift their walls of grey, [...]

1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: Printed for John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza LV.2, page 31:

'Tis frequent in the city he hath subdued / The Catti and the Daci.

1626, Philip Massinger, The Roman Actor:


frequent

en-verb

frequent (third-person singular simple present frequents, present participle frequenting, simple past and past participle frequented)

frequents (present singular third-person)
frequenting (participle present)
frequented (participle past)
frequented (past)

From Old French frequenter, from Latin frequentare (“to fill, crowd, visit often, do or use often, etc.”), from frequens (“frequent, crowded”).

uder

I used to frequent that restaurant.


modern

en-adj

modern (comparative moderner or more modern, superlative modernest or most modern)

moderner (comparative)
more modern (comparative)
modernest (superlative)
most modern (superlative)

premodern

antonym(s) of “pertaining to the modern period”

From Middle French moderne, from Late Latin modernus; from Latin modo (“just now”), originally ablative of modus (“measure”); hence, by measure, "just now". See also mode.

Our online interactive game is a modern approach to teaching about gum disease.  Although it was built in the 1600s, the building still has a very modern look.

But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window[…].

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

The "Overhead Door" is the garage door that can be opened or closed at a touch every day in the year—regardless of the weather. It is the garage door that opens UP Completely Out of the Way. In short, it is the modern door for the modern garage—in step with the times.

1930 May 31, “The "Overhead Door" for Garage-Factory-Warehouse”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 202, number 48, page 110:

In fact, he had created the conditions for the great horror of modern times.

2018 June 14, Timothy Snyder, “How Did the Nazis Gain Power in Germany?”, in The New York Times:

The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:

Pertaining to a current or recent time and style; not ancient.

عَصْرِيّ

pertaining to the current time and style


temporal

temporal (not generally comparable, comparative more temporal, superlative most temporal)

more temporal (comparative)
most temporal (superlative)

From Middle English temporal, temporel (“transitory, worldly, material, of secular society”), from Old French temporel or Latin temporālis (“of time (in grammar), temporary, relating to time as opposed to eternity”), from tempus (“time, period, opportunity”) + -ālis.

af

The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 4:18:

Of limited time, transient, passing, not perpetual, as opposed to eternal.

(euphemistic) Lasting for a short time only.

Of or relating to time as distinguished from space.

Of or relating to the sequence of time or to a particular time.

(grammar) Relating to or denoting time or tense.

Relating to time:
Relating to or denoting time or tense.


eternity

en-noun

eternity (countable and uncountable, plural eternities)

eternities (plural)
æternity (alternative archaic)
æternitie (alternative obsolete)

sempiternity

antonym(s) of “existence outside of time”

From Middle English eternyte, from Old French eternité, from Latin aeternitās. Displaced native Old English ēcnes.

Eternity has generally been considered as divisible into two parts; which have been termed, eternity a parte ante, and eternity a parte post: that is, in plain English, that eternity which is past, and that eternity which is to come.

1829, John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions, 10th edition, volume 2, Sermon LVIII: On the Eternity of God, page 1:

This theory regards creation as an act of God in eternity past.

1886, Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology: a Compendium and Commonplace-book Designed for the Use of Theological Students, page 190:

Those who like not the company of the saints on earth will get none of it in eternity; but, as godless company is their delight now, they will afterwards get enough of it, when they have eternity to pass in the roaring and blaspheming society of devils and reprobates in hell.

2000, Thomas Boston, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, page 247:

(uncountable) Existence without end, infinite time.

We sometimes speak of eternity in contradistinction to time; and often say, "through time and into eternity;" and again "from eternity to eternity," which is simply another form of expressing the same idea, and "pass through time into eternity." in other words, time is a short period allotted to man in his probationary state—and we use the word time in contradistinction to the word eternity, merely for the accommodation of man in his finite sphere, that we may comprehend and learn to measure periods.

1879, Erastus Snow, “Rest Signifies Change, etc.”, in Brigham Young, editor, Journal of Discourses, volume 21, published 1881:

(uncountable, philosophy, theology) Existence outside of time.

Every niche was filled by a funeral urn, and by marble shapes that bent down in a pale eternity of sorrow.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 220:

(countable) A period of time which extends infinitely far into the future.

أبَدِيَّة

time extending infinitely far into the future

de eeuwigheid

definite article required; often capitalized

When the wind blows not, where, then, is the wind? / Or when thou art not living, where art thou? / What should the wind care for the hours of calm or thou for death? / Thy life is long, Eternity is short. / So short that, shouldst thou die and Eternity should pass, and after the passing of Eternity thou shouldst live again, thou wouldst say: ‘I closed mine eyes but for an instant.’

1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], “Pegāna”, in The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, pages 75–76:

(metaphysical) The remainder of time that elapses after death.

afterlife

It's been an eternity since we last saw each other.

I had to wait in the station for ten days - an eternity.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 208:

(informal, hyperbolic) A comparatively long time.


EDT

Eastern Daylight Time
Eastern Daylight Time#English


stretch

→ Esperanto: streĉi

→ Finnish: stretch-

→ French: stretch

From Middle English strecchen, from Old English streċċan (“to stretch, hold out, extend, spread out, prostrate”), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch, make taut or tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg-, *streg-, *treg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with West Frisian strekke, Dutch strekken (“to stretch, straighten”), German strecken (“to stretch, straighten, elongate”), Danish strække (“to stretch”), Swedish sträcka (“to stretch”), Dutch strak (“taut, tight”), Albanian shtriqem (“to stretch”). More at stark.

cog

time stretch analog-to-digital converter

There is a grand stretch in the evenings.

(Ireland) Extended daylight hours, especially said of the evening in springtime when compared to the shorter winter days.

The '42 Cardinals are best known for their amazing stretch run. St. Louis won 43 of their last 51 games and came back from a double-digit deficit in games in early August to edge out the Dodgers for the N.L. flag.

2000, Rob Neyer, Eddie Epstein, GBaseball Dynasties: The Greatet Teams of All Time, page 179:

(sports) The period of the season between the trade deadline and the beginning of the playoffs.

He did a seven-year stretch in jail.

A length of time.
(slang) A jail or prison term.

A length of time.
A jail or prison term.

(slang) A jail or prison term of one year's duration.

A length of time.
A single uninterrupted sitting; a turn.

After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever […]

1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:


late

en-adj

late (comparative later, superlative latest)

later (comparative)
latest (superlative)

From Middle English late, lat, from Old English læt (“slow; slack, lax, negligent; late”), from Proto-West Germanic *lat, from Proto-Germanic *lataz (“slow, lazy”). By surface analysis, deverbal from let.

der

The seedlings appeared to be coming along nicely until a late frost killed them.


later

once

antonym(s) of “At some unspecified time in the future”

* Adverb: From Middle English later, latere, from Old English lator, equivalent to late + -er.
* Adjective: From Middle English later, latere, from Old English lætra, equivalent to late + -er.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian leeter (“later”), West Frisian letter (“later”), Dutch later (“later”), German Low German later (“later”).

My roommate arrived first. I arrived later.

I arrived later than my roommate.

Afterward in time (used with than when comparing with another time).

I wanted to do it now, but I’ll have to do it later.


later

The Victorian era is a later period of English history than the Elizabethan era.

The eldest son was usually given the name of his paternal grandfather, later children those of other relatives.

1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii:

Coming afterward in time (used with than when comparing with another time).

The meeting was adjourned to a later date.


latest

From Middle English lateste, from Old English latost, latest, lætest, superlative of læt, whence English late.

Complete the XYZ task latest by today 5:00PM.


during

/ˈd(j)ʊəɹɪŋ/

/ˈd(j)ʊəɹɪŋ/

/ˈdɪʊɹɪŋ(ɡ)/

From Middle English during, durynge, durinde, durand, durende, present participle of duren (“to last”), equivalent to dure + -ing. Compare Dutch gedurende (“during”). More at dure.

I lived with my parents during the 1970s.

This shop, whihc was among the few able to stay open during the war, is closed during the whole of August.

During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]

1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond:

They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 9:

Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.

2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

For all of a given time interval; throughout; in; pending.

I lived with my parents at several points during the 1980s.

Many of the best examples were produced during the Restoration.

I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

These infamous little green men appeared during the decisive seizures or buildings and facilities, only to disappear when associated militias and local troops arrived to consolidate the gains. In this way they provided a measure of deniability—however superficial or implausible—for Moscow.⁴⁰

2014, “Little Green Men”: A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United States Army Special Operations Command, page 43:

At any time or period within a given time interval.


dilatory

/ˈdɪləˌtɔɹi/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-dilatory.wav

From Middle English dilatorie, from Old French dilatoire, from Latin dīlātōrius (“extending or putting off (time)”), from dīlātor, from differō. Not etymologically related to delay.

a dilatory strategy

Alva, as usual, brought his dilatory policy to bear upon his adversary with great effect.

1856, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic. A History. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

Intentionally delaying (someone or something), intended to cause delay, gain time, or adjourn decision.


often

en-adv

often (comparative more often or oftener, superlative most often or oftenest)

more often (comparative)
oftener (comparative)
most often (superlative)
oftenest (superlative)

From Middle English often, alteration (with final -n added due to analogy with Middle English selden (“seldom”)) of Middle English ofte, oft, from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-Germanic *ufta, *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Scots oftin (“often”), North Frisian oftem (“often”), Saterland Frisian oafte (“often”), German oft (“often”), Pennsylvania German oft (“often”), Danish ofte (“often”), Norwegian Bokmål ofte (“often”), Norwegian Nynorsk ofte (“often”), Swedish ofta (“often”), and Icelandic oft (“often”).

I often walk to work when the weather is nice.

I’ve been going to the movies more often since a new theatre opened near me.

It can't be said too often / often enough.

☞ This word [wrap] is often pronounced wrop, rhyming with top, even by ſpeakers much above the vulgar.

1791, John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary […] , London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinſon, Paternoſter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, →OCLC, page 557:

How often is the comfort of a whole family abridged by some trifling circumstance, that ought not to have made a visible impression!

1850, T. S. Arthur, “A Rise in the Butter Market”, in Sketches of Life and Character, Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 59:

Although frogs are able to swim well and often are found in water, they are really land animals.

1912, P. Chalmers Mitchell, “Larvæ and Metamorphoses”, in The Childhood of Animals, New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, →OCLC, page 17:

According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.

2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:

Frequently; many times on different occasions.

the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

the pitcher goes so often to the well that it is broken at last


prior

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin prior (“earlier, former, previous, prior; in front; (figurative) better, superior”), from Proto-Italic *priōs (“earlier, previous”, literally “more before”), ultimately from *pri (“before”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pró (“leading to, toward”) and its etymon *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-jōs (suffix forming comparative adjectives). Doublet of before, fore, and former.
The adverb and noun are derived from the adjective.

der

His prior residence was smaller than his current one.

I had no prior knowledge you were coming.

Since therefore 'tis poſſible for all objects to become cauſes or effects to each other, it may be proper to fix ſome general rules, by vvhich vve may knovv vvhen they really are ſo. […] 2. The cauſe must be prior to the effect.

1739, [David Hume], “Rules by which to Judge of Causes and Effects”, in A Treatise of Human Nature: […], book I (Of the Understanding), London: […] John Noon, […], →OCLC, part III (Of Knowledge and Probability), pages 303–304:

Lady Marney, duly warned of the impending catastrophe, was experiencing all the advantages of prior information.

1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter VI, in Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book I, page 83:

"As these busts in the block of marble," though Miriam, "so does our individual fate exist in the limestone of time. We fancy that we carve it out; but its ultimate shape is prior to all our action."

1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “A Sculptor’s Studio”, in The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, pages 148–149:

These reconstructions took place with so great ease and rapidity at Abbeville, […] that there is now scarce vestige left of any building prior to the fifteenth century.

1886, John Ruskin, “Rome”, in Præterita. Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts Perhaps Worthy of Memory in My Past Life, volume I, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC, page 280:

[T]he Mayor, […] seemed to have schooled himself into a course of strict mechanical rightness towards this woman of prior claim, at any expense to the later one, and to his own sentiments.

1886 May, Thomas Hardy, chapter XIII, in The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 152:

Coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.

предишен

coming before in importance, order, or time — see also earlier, former, previous


oft

en-adv

oft (comparative ofter, superlative oftest)

ofter (comparative)
oftest (superlative)

From Middle English oft (also ofte, often > Modern English often), from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-West Germanic *oftu, *oftō, from Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”), West Frisian oft, ofte (“oft, often”), Dutch oft (“oft, often”), German oft (“oft, often”). More at often.

An oft-told tale

What I can do, can do no hurt to try:
Since you ſet up your reſt 'gainſt remedy:
He that of greateſt works is finiſher,
Oft does them by the weakeſt miniſter;
So holy writ in babes hath judgment ſhown,
When judges have been babes.

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

1819, George Gordon Byron, John Galt (biography), The Pophecy of Dante, Canto the Fourth, 1857, The Complete Works of Lord Byron, Volume 1, page 403,
And how is it that they, the sons of fame,
Whose inspiration seems to them to shine
From high, they whom the nations oftest name,
Must pass their days in penury or pain,
Or step to grandeur through the paths of shame,
And wear a deeper brand and gaudier chain?

1902, James H. Mulligan, In Kentucky, quoted in 2005, Wade Hall (editor), The Kentucky Anthology, page 203,
The moonlight falls the softest
In Kentucky;
The summer days come oftest
In Kentucky;

(chiefly poetic, dialectal, and in combination) often; frequently; not rarely

често

often; frequently; not rarely; many times


stasis

en-noun

stasis (usually uncountable, plural stases)

From New Latin stasis, from Ancient Greek στάσις (stásis). See the doublet stead.

I was in stasis for forty years before I woke up orbiting this poxy planet!

(science fiction, uncountable) A technology allowing something to be artificially frozen in time, so that it does not age or change.

pysäytin

scifi: technology allowing something to be artificially frozen in time


predecessor

predecessors (plural)
prædecessor (alternative)
prædecessour (alternative)
predecessour (alternative)

From Middle English predecessour, from Old French predecesseor (“forebear”), from Late Latin praedēcessor, from Latin prae- (“pre-”) + Latin dēcessor (“retiring officer”), from Latin dēcēdō (“I retire, I die”) (English decease).

I thought about my predecessor, who had died of drink and smoke; and I could have wished he had been so good as to live, and not bother me with his decease.

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

"The Northern Heights at last," you say to yourself, hastily closing the carriage window because the Yorkshire coal used by the Eastern Region and its predecessors makes their tunnels more sulphurous than any we know.

1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704:

One who precedes; one who has preceded another in any state, position, office, etc.; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position.


trice

From Middle English trīce, trise, in the phrase at a trīce (“with a single, quick motion; at once”, literally “with a pull or jerk”), later also in the phrases in a trice, on a trice, and with a trice. The word is ultimately from Middle English trīcen: see etymology 1 above.

Miſtruſtfully he truſteth, and he dreadingly did dare, / And fortie paſſions in a trice in him conſort and ſquare.

1586, William Warner, “The Fourth Booke. Chapter XXXIII.”, in Albions England. Or Historicall Map of the Same Island: […], London: […] George Robinson [and R. Ward] for Thomas Cadman, […], →OCLC, page 162:

This is most ſtrange, that ſhe, who even but now / Was your beſt object, the argument of your praiſe, / Balme of your age, moſt beſt, moſt deereſt, / Should in this trice of time commit a thing / So monſtrous, to diſmantell ſo many foulds of fauour, […]

c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

He saw a Turnkey in a trice / Unfetter a troublesome blade;

1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 85:

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; / It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May." / And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; / Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

1907, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, in The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses, New York, N.Y.: Barse & Hopkins, publishers, →OCLC, page 53:

And in a trice he has clambered onto the kitchen dresser and is reaching for the top shelf.

2013, J[ohn] M[axwell] Coetzee, chapter 22, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Vic.: The Text Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 220:

Perhaps images then, not words? Of terrified young people who in a trice went from dancing to frantic running in a futile attempt to escape the spray of bullets; […]

2023 October 14, Simon Schama, “Let us be, to grieve, rage, weep; say the mourners' kaddish”, in FT Weekend, page 9:

Now only in the phrase in a trice: a very short time; the blink of an eye, an instant, a moment.


origin

/ˈɒɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪn/

/ˈɒɹ.ə.d͡ʒən/

/ˈɔɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪn/

/ˈɑɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪn/

From Middle English origine, origyne, from Old French origine, orine, ourine, from Latin origo (“beginning, source, birth, origin”), from orior (“to rise”); see orient. Doublet of origo.

der

language analysis for the determination of origin


eon

eons (plural)
aeon (alternative)
æon (alternative)

From Latin aeon, from Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “age, era”).

It’s been eons since we last saw each other.

Traditionally, a luncheon is a lunch that takes an eon.

1990, Judith Martin, Miss Manners’ Guide for the Turn-of-the-Millennium (A Fireside Book), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 453:

(US, informal, hyperbolic) A long period of time.

вечност

informal, hyperbolic: a long period of time


HMS

14:37:12 = 14:37 (2:37 pm) and 12 seconds

(mathematics) Initialism of hour-minute-second:

A 24 or 12-hour time format that includes seconds, in addition to hours and minutes.

7.4138 base-10 decimal hours = 7ʰ 41ᵐ 38ˢ

A format for writing decimal time, usually associated with base-10 time such as during the French Revolution.


occasional

en-adj

occasional (comparative more occasional, superlative most occasional)

more occasional (comparative)
most occasional (superlative)

From Middle English occasyonal, from Medieval Latin occāsiōnālis and Old French ocasionel. By surface analysis, occasion + -al.

He was mostly solitary, but enjoyed the occasional visitor.

He took an occasional glass of wine.

The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.

1963, Margery Allingham, “Ebbfield Interlude”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 95:

But the truth is that plenty of artists from other countries make work that's bold, naughty or nasty, without getting more than a very occasional headline.

2003 April 17, Blake Gopnik, “Art That Advertises Itself; Saatchi's Ornate New Gallery Pits Young British Artists Against the Establishment”, in Washington Post:

Occurring or appearing irregularly from time to time, but not often; incidental.

عَرَضِيّ

limited to certain occasions; not very often

no accurate non-formal translation exists

Elgar's music was not created to be occasional music for high-school graduations.

He is an occasional writer of letters to the editor.

Acting in the indicated role from time to time.


temporary

temporary (comparative more temporary, superlative most temporary)

more temporary (comparative)
most temporary (superlative)
tempory (alternative obsolete)

/ˈtɛmpəɹəɹi/

Borrowed from Latin temporarius, from tempus (“time”).

there is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution

Sally was put in temporary charge of the department while they searched for a full-time replacement.

Not permanent; existing only for a period or periods of time.

Existing only for a short time or short times; transient, ephemeral.

مُؤَقَّت

for a limited time, ephemeral, not constant


temporary

temporaries (plural)
tempory (alternative obsolete)

/ˈtɛmpəɹəɹi/

One serving for a limited time; a short-term employee, especially in an office.


babyhood

en-noun

babyhood (countable and uncountable, plural babyhoods)

Radulph hid his face in his hands and for the first time since babyhood, prayed […]

1993, Rikki Ducornet, The Jade Cabinet, Dalkey Archive Press, page 129:


fillip

From Middle English filippen, philippe (“to flick or snap a finger against the thumb”); further origin uncertain, but probably imitative. See flip. It is not clear whether the verb is derived from the noun, or vice versa.

onomatopoeic

imitative

Eat, drink and love; the rest's not worth a fillip.

1821, Lord Byron, “Sardanapalus”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 20:

Now among the treasures in the palace of the Dragon King of the World Under the Sea were two jewels having wondrous power over the tides. [...] Whoever owned them had the power to make the tides instantly rise or fall at his word, to make the dry land appear, or the sea overwhelm it, in the fillip of a finger.

1880, William Elliot Griffis, Japanese Fairy World. Stories from the Wonder-lore of Japan, Schenectady, N.Y.: James H. Barhyte, →OCLC, pages 276–277:

(by extension) Something unimportant, a trifle; also, the brief time it takes to flick one's finger (see noun sense 1); a jiffy.


instantaneously

How quick the eye and hand to catch him [the ruffed grouse] when he rises from the underbrush and is out of sight in the wood before the untrained sportsman stops him with what is little more than a snapshot, so instantaneously must all be done!

1892, Stanley Waterloo, A Man and a Woman:

Under the guise of being “online” and capable of disseminating news instantaneously (known colloquially as “retweeting”), being active on Twitter, for media workers, gives the effect of fulfilling one’s occupational duty as well as all the parts of professional upkeep that, in the physical world, involve being in the right rooms, overhearing the right things, and more or less maintaining appearances.

2022 April 14, Delia Cai, “Severance, the New York Times’s Twitter Guidelines, and the Forever Illusion of Work-Life Balance”, in Vanity Fair:

Without any delay; in an instantaneous manner.


instantaneous

From New Latin īnstāntāneus, from Latin īnstantem.

This instantaneous motion is supposed by you, to be infinitely swift.

1631, William Twisse, chapter VI, in A Discovery of D. Iacksons vanitie, page 223:

However, no lovers in romance ever cemented a more inſtantaneous friendſhip.

1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “Fresh Mortifications, or a Demonstration that Seeming Calamities may be Real Blessings”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume I, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 137:

The colour now rushed into Elizabeth's cheeks in the instantaneous conviction of its being a letter from the nephew, instead of the aunt; [...]

1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 262:

I walk always with my right hand closed round the india-rubber ball which I have in my trouser pocket. The pressing of this ball actuates a detonator inside the flask I carry in my pocket. It's the principle of the pneumatic instantaneous shutter for a camera lens.

1906 January–October, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, London: Methuen & Co., […], published 1907, →OCLC; The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Collection of British Authors; 3995), copyright edition, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1907, →OCLC, pages 68–69:

The penis is the perfectly obvious and natural symbol of instantaneous time.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 129:

He said that the bullet went through her head, severed her spine and death would have been almost instantaneous.

2007 May 30, “Spector jury given graphic account of actress ‘murder’”, in The Times, London, retrieved 2007-07-13:

Occurring, arising, or functioning without any delay; happening within an imperceptibly brief period of time.

վայրկենական

occurring, arising, or functioning without any delay; happening within an imperceptibly brief period of time


upcoming

We are ready for whatever is upcoming.

The Federal budget lays out government spending for the upcoming budget year.

Happening or appearing in the relatively near future.


permanent

en-adj

permanent (comparative more permanent, superlative most permanent)

more permanent (comparative)
most permanent (superlative)

From Middle English permanent, permanente, from Middle French permanent, from Latin permanēns, from permaneō (“I stay through”). First attested in the 15th century.

The countries are now locked in a permanent state of conflict.


promptly

en-adv

promptly (comparative more promptly, superlative most promptly)

more promptly (comparative)
most promptly (superlative)

The sale will begin on January 28th, promptly at 9 a.m.

In a prompt manner.
Exactly at a specific time.


Chronos

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Χρόνος (Khrónos), from Ancient Greek χρόνος (khrónos, “time”)

lbor

Chronus (alternative)
Khronos (alternative)

(Greek mythology) The personification of time.


adjourn

en-verb

adjourn (third-person singular simple present adjourns, present participle adjourning, simple past and past participle adjourned)

adjourns (present singular third-person)
adjourning (participle present)
adjourned (participle past)
adjourned (past)

From Middle English ajournen, from Old French ajorner (French ajourner), from the phrase a jor (nomé) ("to an (appointed) day").

The court will adjourn for lunch.

The Form of this motion is, “When this assembly adjourns, it adjourns to meet at such a time.”

1876, Henry Martyn Robert, Robert’s Rules of Order, Chicago: S.C. Griggs & Co., Article III, Section 10, pp. 25-26:

When it's time for the fallout / And Saint Peter calls us all out / We'll just drop our agendas and adjourn

1959, Tom Lehrer, “We Will All Go Together When We Go”:

(intransitive) To end or suspend an event.


schedule

schedule (third-person singular simple present schedules, present participle scheduling, simple past and past participle scheduled)

schedules (present singular third-person)
scheduling (participle present)
scheduled (participle past)
scheduled (past)
Schedule (alternative)

Inherited from Middle English cedule, from Middle French cedule (whence French cédule), from Old French cedule, from Late Latin schedula (“papyrus strip”), diminutive of Latin scheda, from Ancient Greek σχέδη (skhédē, “papyrus leaf”), from Proto-Hellenic *skʰíďďō, from Proto-Indo-European *skid-yé-ti, from *skeyd- (“to divide, split”). Doublet of cedula and cedule.
This word was historically pronounced /ˈsɛdjuːl/, /ˈsɛdʒuːl/; the pronunciations with /ʃ/ and /sk/ are due to the spelling (the latter may have been reinforced by learned influence); compare schism.

der

The next elections are scheduled on the twentieth of November.

(transitive) To plan (an activity or event) for a specific date or time.

планирам

to plan an activity at a specific date or time

I am scheduled for classes next month.

I'll schedule you for three-o'clock then.

(transitive) To add (a name) to the list of those participating in an event; to reserve a place or time for.


transient

en-adj

transient (comparative more transient, superlative most transient)

more transient (comparative)
most transient (superlative)

From Late Latin transiēnt- (for classical transeunt-), stem of transiēns, present participle of transire (“to go over, to pass”).

a transient pleasure

this transient world

1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

Or doth she only seem to take
The touch of change in calm or storm;
But knows no more of transient form
In her deep self, than some dead lake
That holds the shadow of a lark
Hung in the shadow of a heaven?

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 26:

Passing or disappearing with time; transitory.

مُؤَقَّت

passing or disappearing with time; transitory

a transient view of a landscape

a transient disease

Taking advantage of the surprise, which assured him at least transient attention, he continued, addressing himself particularly to Evelyn.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 27:

Traditionally, alumnae have more impact than students, whom the administration views as transient.

1980 August 9, Robin Bechhofer, Emmy Goldknopf, “Class Reunion”, in Gay Community News, page 13:

(physics) Decaying with time, especially exponentially.


transient

Then, within the space of a few months, there were more transients than there were locals, and the imbalance seemed morally wrong.

1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 3:

A person who passes through a place for a short time; a traveller; a migrant worker.

The overhead in loading transients is a big time-waster.

1978, Computerworld, volume 12, number 25, page 26:

These areas function to single thread supervisor routines that are loaded as needed. The Logical Transient Area (LTA) processes $$B transients.

1990, Gary A. Stotts, DOS/VSE: Introduction to the Operating System, page 102:

Like with setting and getting transients, WordPress packages a delete_transient() function for deleting a transient from the database.

2020, Brad Williams, Justin Tadlock, John James Jacoby, Professional WordPress Plugin Development, page 102:

(programming) A module that generally remains in memory only for a short time.


dusk

en-noun

dusk (countable and uncountable, plural dusks)

From Middle English dosk, dusk(e) (“dusky”, adj.), from Old English dox (“dark, swarthy”), from Proto-Germanic *duskaz (“dark, smoky”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes-, related to *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, mist, haze”). Cognate to Latin fuscus (“dark, dusky”), Sanskrit धूसर (dhūsara, “dust-colored”), Old Irish donn (“dark”). Related to dye, dust and dun (see these for more).

inh

The time after the sun has set but when the sky is still lit by sunlight; the evening twilight period.

عِشَاء

period of time at the end of day when sun is below the horizon but before full onset of night


in two shakes of a lamb's tail

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-in two shakes of a lamb's tail.wav

I'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail.


chronological

en-adj

chronological (comparative more chronological, superlative most chronological)

more chronological (comparative)
most chronological (superlative)

/ˌkɹɒnəˈlɒd͡ʒɪkəl/

From chrono- + -logical or chronology + -ical.

chronologies

in order of time from the earliest to the latest

He is 67 in chronological age, but has the mind and body of someone 55.

The live report lists all the events in chronological order.

A Book of Death and Fish is about one Peter MacAulay, an unremarkable individual who has the sea and its promises always with him, experiencing the usual strains of growing up and growing old – the death of a friend, his parents, marriage and children – all set out in chronological order and divided into two books, Migration and Turbulence.

8 November 2014, Kirsty Gunn, “A Book of Death and Fish by Ian Stephen – review”, in The Guardian:

In order of time from the earliest to the latest.

(films, shows, books, etc) Relating to the arrangement of events in the order in which they occur within a story, rather than the order in which they are released.

films; shows; books; etc; films; shows; books; etc


postpone

en-verb

postpone (third-person singular simple present postpones, present participle postponing, simple past and past participle postponed)

postpones (present singular third-person)
postponing (participle present)
postponed (participle past)
postponed (past)

From Latin postpōnō (“I put after; I postpone”) from post (“after”) + pōnō (“I put; I place”), compare forestall.

der

Why should the See of Antioch, that most ancient and truly Apostolical Church, where the Christian name began […] be postponed to Alexandria?

1687, Isaac Barrow, A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy, 3rd edition, page 161:

(obsolete) To place after in order; to deem less important.


posterior

en-adj

posterior (comparative more posterior, superlative most posterior)

more posterior (comparative)
most posterior (superlative)
posteriour (alternative)

Borrowed from Latin posterior (“that comes or follows after; later, latter”).


prehistory

en-noun

prehistory (countable and uncountable, plural prehistories)

prehistories (plural)
pre-history (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-prehistory.wav

From pre- (“before”) + history, first attested in the Foreign Quarterly Review in 1836, after the model of prehistoric, from French préhistorique.

“We don’t find evidence for that sort of thing anywhere in prehistory.”

2014 September 29, Douglas Quenqua, “Toolmaking May Have Risen Independently”, in The New York Times:

The time before written records in any area of the world; the events and conditions of those times.

նախապատմություն

study of events and conditions before written records

I was a town boy through and through. The country belonged to a vague pre-history.

1984, Shiva Naipaul, Beyond the Dragon's Mouth, page 25:

(humorous, hyperbolic) Any past time (even recent) treated as such a distant, unknowable era.


shelf life

shelf lives (plural)
shelflife (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-shelf life.wav

The length of time a product (especially food and drugs) will last without deteriorating or without being sold.

有效期

the length of time a product will last without deteriorating

The maximum time a packaged material can be stored under specific conditions and still meet the performance requirements specified.

As earnest and heartfelt as Maynard's plea for the end of Harambe image macros is, his best course of action is probably just to wait a few more weeks until the joke has dried up. Harambe may have a better shelf life than Damn Daniel or whatever, but there's no way its got the legs of "Smooth."

2016 August 22, “The Cincinnati Zoo Really Hates Your Harambe Memes”, in VICE, archived from the original on 2023-05-27:

When looking at the company’s future challenges this way, Netflix’s big bet on gaming tracks. It creates new ways to extend the shelf life of content and characters that are already resonating with viewers. But what would Netflix games even look like?

2021 July 21, Catie Keck, “Netflix thinks games matter more than buying movie studios”, in The Verge, archived from the original on 2023-03-31:

(figuratively) The length of time that something is popular or fashionable.


Iron Age

/ˈʌɪən eɪdʒ/

From iron + age, in the mythological sense a calque of Latin saecula ferrea, aetas ferrea; in the archaeological sense a calque of Danish jernalder.

He that shall examine this iron age wherein we live, where love is cold […] may well ask where is charity?

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 1, member 3:

(mythology) The most recent and debased of the four or five classical Ages of Man; hence, any period characterized by wicked behavior.

An age characterized by the use of iron.


chronocide

For quotations using this term, see Citations:chronocide.


kill time

en-verb

kill time (third-person singular simple present kills time, present participle killing time, simple past and past participle killed time)

kills time (present singular third-person)
killing time (participle present)
killed time (participle past)
killed time (past)

She had nothing better to do, so she went to the bowling alley to kill time.

Mrs. Autumn […] lay in bed always till it was very late this being one of those happy expedients for killing time (as the fashionable phrase is) which, to discover, employs the inventions of persons of rank and fortune.

1758, Charlotte Lennox, Henrietta, London: A. Millar, Volume 2, Book 4, Chapter 3, p. 129:

I had no intention of delivering my letter at the present moment, nor have I. But strolling on to the Bank to kill time, and having the good fortune to observe at the window […] a lady of a very superior and agreeable appearance, I considered that I could not do better than take the liberty of asking that lady where Mr. Bounderby the Banker does live.

1854, Charles Dickens, “Effects In The Bank”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, book the second (Reaping), page 144:

You were still out, so she drove back downtown and went to a movie to kill time until after midnight, when she thought she’d be more likely to find you in.

1930, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 12, in The Maltese Falcon, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, pages 137–138:

The night air was passably cool and he strolled through the town at a measured pace, killing time till bedtime.

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 14:

This was uneventful, except that I found myself consistently running in front of a fairly comfortable schedule, and after trying No. U.1 out on the bank from Creil to Survilliers with great success, had to kill some 8min time gained on the descent, a task which proved impossible, even though we were stopped opposite La Chapelle.

1961 March, ""Balmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 151:

1982, Adele Geras, The Green behind the Glass (U.S. title: Snapshots of Paradise), Lions Teen Tracks,
She’s up there now, thought Bella, up in that freezing studio, killing time till the child comes home, mooning, dreaming, turning disjointed thoughts over in her head, and we'll pay for it.

(informal, intransitive) To engage in an activity whose only purpose is to make the time seem to pass more quickly; to fill the time between activities.

vaxt öldürmək

make time seem to pass more quickly by doing nothing important


shank

From Middle English schanke, from Old English sċanca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (compare West Frisian skonk, Dutch schenkel, Low German Schanke, German Schenkel (“shank, leg”), Danish skank, Norwegian skank, Swedish skänkel), from *skankaz (compare Old Norse skakkr (“wry, crooked”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (compare Middle Irish scingim (“I spring”), Ancient Greek σκάζω (skázō, “to limp”).

The end or remainder, particularly of a period of time.

the shank of the morning

AMANDA: Going now? You're joking! Why, it's only the shank of the evening, Mr. O’Connor!

1945, Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, page 92:

The main part or beginning of a period of time.


instant

instants (plural)
instaunt (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English instant (“infinitely short period of time”), from Old French instant (“assiduous, at hand”, adjective), from Latin īnstāns, īnstantis (“present, pressing, urgent”, literally “standing near”), present active participle of īnstō (“to stand upon, be nearby”), from in- (“after”) + stō (“to stand”). Compare Old English instede (“immediately, on the spot, at once”). More at in, stand.

cog

She paused for only an instant, which was just enough time for John to change the subject.

Thy life is long, Eternity is short. So short that, shouldst thou die and Eternity should pass, and after the passing of Eternity thou shouldst live again, thou wouldst say: ‘I closed mine eyes but for an instant.’

1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 76:

"On receiving the baton, steam was again turned on, and the train passed on to the bridge... when the train had got about 200 yards from the cabin [in the signal box], he observed sparks flying from the wheels; and after they had continued about three minutes, there was a sudden bright flash of light, and in an instant there was total darkness, the tail lamps of the train, the sparks, and flash of light, all, he said disappearing at the same instant."

2021 November 3, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Boxes with functions across the centuries”, in RAIL, number 943, page 57, referring to the Tay Bridge disaster:

The instant the alarm went off, he fled the building.

A single, usually precise, point in time.

A beverage or food which has been pre-processed to reduce preparation time, especially instant coffee.


half-life

"The guy that just left—what's he got in his lungs?" / "Well, I'm not very sure. But the two best candidates are uranium-233 and plutonium-239, one or both." / "They're in his bones too, aren't they?" / "Yeah, they're both boneseekers. And they've got half-lives of one hundred sixty-two thousand and twenty-four thousand years respectively. So they stay hot for a long time."

1985, Michael Swanwick, “Boneseeker”, in In the Drift (New Ace Science Fiction Specials; series 3), New York, N.Y.: Ace Science Fiction Books, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2017, →ISBN, page 80:

O₂^(•−) and OH^• are highly unstable (half-life at the level of microseconds and nanoseconds, respectively) and cannot cross membrane, while H₂O₂, though not a free radical but a ROS, is relatively stable (half-life around 1 ms) (Møller et al. 2007) and can cross membranes through aquaporins.

2015, Rup Kumar Kar, “ROS Signaling: Relevance with Site of Production and Metabolism of ROS”, in Dharmendra K. Gupta, José M. Palma, Francisco J. Corpas, editors, Reactive Oxygen Species and Oxidative Damage in Plants Under Stress, Springer, →ISBN, page 117:

(nuclear physics) The time required for half the nuclei in a sample of an isotope to undergo radioactive decay.

(physical chemistry) In a chemical reaction, the time required for the concentration of a reactant to fall from a chosen value to half that value.

semivida

chemistry: time required for concentration to fall to half

For nonporous surfaces such as steel, in a dark and low-humidity environment, the CCP virus has an 18-hour half-life—the time required for it to decrease by half , according to the researchers' findings.

2020, Dr. Alan Pateman, China, Covid-19, World Domination, Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:

(medicine, pharmacology) The time it takes for a substance (drug, radioactive nuclide, or other) to lose half of its pharmacological, physiologic, or radiological activity.

semivida

medicine: time for a substance to lose half of its activity

Most books of scholarship have surprisingly short intellectual half-lives during which they make a difference"

1991, Robert Ackerman, Introduction to Jane Ellen Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903)

The amount of time it takes for an idea or a fashion to lose half of its influential power.

puoliintumisaika

time to lose half of influential power of an idea or fashion


Greenwich Time Signal

en-noun

Greenwich Time Signal (plural Greenwich Time Signals)

(British) A time signal transmitted on radio by the BBC every hour and consisting of five short beeps followed by a longer one, with the longer one coinciding with the start of the hour.


sometimes

From Middle English sumtymes, somtymes, som tymes, equivalent to sometime + -s (adverbial suffix). Compare West Frisian somstiden (“sometimes”), Dutch somtijds, somwijlen (“sometimes”).

sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you

What art thou that vſurp’ſt this time of night, / Together with that Faire and Warlike forme / In which the Maieſty of buried Denmarke / Did ſometimes march : By Heauen I charge thee ſpeake.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 152, column 2, lines 46–49:

For yee were sometimes darkenesse, but now are yee light in the Lord: walke as children of light […]

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ephesians 5:8:

They detract, ſcoffe and raile ſaith one, & barke at mee on every ſide, but I, like that Albanian dog ſometimes given to Alexander for a preſent, vindico me ab illis ſolo contemptu, I ly ſtill and ſleep, vindicate my ſelfe by contempt alone.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Remedies against diſcontents”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 3, member 7, page 351:

(obsolete) On a certain occasion in the past; once.


time zone

time zones (plural)
time-zone (alternative)
timezone (alternative)

A range of longitudes where a common standard time is used.


forebear

forebears (plural)
forbear (alternative)
forebeer (alternative Scotland)

Late 15th century, from fore- + beer (“one who is or exists”, literally “be-er”).

affix

One day, among the days, he bethought him of this and fell lamenting for that the most part of his existence was past and he had not been vouchsafed a son, to inherit the kingdom after him, even as he had inherited it from his fathers and forebears; by reason whereof there betided him sore cark and care and chagrin exceeding.

1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 566:

[1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr.
Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold […]

One does not take one’s family name therefrom, and again the position of the mother in that group is determined through her father and his male forbears in turn; this too is a patrilineal group.

[1936] 2004, Raymond William Firth, We the Tikopia http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=Eiji-EnuhXUC&pg=PA345&lpg=PA345&sig=aB2VV0fcWv6lkQPQatQQbDhlm_8

THE LONDON BRIGHTON & SOUTH COAST RAILWAY. By C. Hamilton Ellis. Ian Allan. 30s. [...] In the course of its pages the author runs through the whole gamut of the locomotives that have during the period under review run on the rails of the L.B. & S.C. and its forebears.

1960 December, “New reading on railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 776:

Beginning with the bald declaration “I think I was cold in the womb,” the speaker in “The Forbears” then decides that his brother (who died soon after birth) must also have been cold in the womb, like his grandfather John and the forbears who antedated John.

1997, H. L. Hix, Understanding W. S. Merwin:

Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.

2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18: