# time

Pronunciation: say "TYM" /taɪm/

## Noun

1. An instance or occurrence.
   - Simple: One occasion when something happens.
   - _Each time she visits, she brings a different kind of homemade cake._
   - _She has read the book three times._
2. A particular moment or hour, or the appropriate one, often with a prepositional phrase or a past subjunctive.
   - Simple: A certain moment, or the right one, for something to happen.
   - _It's time we were going._
   - _From that time on, they were friends._
3. A quantity of duration available.
   - Simple: The hours, minutes or days you have available to do something.
   - _You had plenty of time and wasted it._
   - _I never have time to read._
4. A measurement of duration, as a numerical or general indication of length.
   - Simple: How long something takes, as a measurement.
   - _Record the baking times for each batch so we can compare them._
   - _Her time in the final was a personal best._
5. The moment of the day as shown by a clock, or a stated hour and minute at which something happens.
   - Simple: The hour and minute of the day, as a clock shows it, e.g. 'What time is it?'
   - _Excuse me, could you tell me the time? My phone just died._
   - _The time on the oven is wrong again._
6. A period of history or of someone's life, marked by particular events or conditions; in the plural, the conditions of the present day.
   - Simple: A period in history or in someone's life, or the conditions people live in.
   - _The time of the dinosaurs ended suddenly._
   - _These are hard times for small farms._
7. The continuous passing of events from the past through the present into the future, including how that passing is felt.
   - Simple: The constant passing of events from the past, through the present, into the future.
   - _Time seems to move faster as you get older._
   - _As time went on, the little fishing village grew into a busy town._
10. An experience.
   - Simple: An experience, good or bad.
   - _A good time was had by all._
   - _We had an awful time at the airport, with long delays and lost luggage._
8. A ratio of comparison; a multiplier.
   - Simple: Used to multiply one number by another or to compare amounts.
   - _That box is four times as heavy as this one._
   - _The new stadium holds three times the crowd the old ground could take._
9. A time standard, the measurement of the hour under some system or for some region.
   - Simple: A system for setting clocks, such as one used in a region.
   - _The clocks go forward to summer time on Sunday._
   - _The meeting is at 3 p.m. Eastern time, which is noon for our team in California._
13. The period one spends locked up under a criminal sentence. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A period spent in prison.
   - _She did time for fraud in the nineties._
   - _Hard time changes a man, the warden said._
14. In sports and figuratively, a temporary and limited suspension of play.
   - Simple: In sports, a short stop in play.
   - _The referee signaled time and the clock stopped._
   - _With ten seconds left, the coach called time to set up a final play._
15. In physics, the dimension in which events are ordered from past to future, treated with space as part of spacetime; its forward direction is linked to increasing entropy.
   - Simple: In physics, the dimension that orders events from past to future, alongside the three dimensions of space.
   - _In relativity, time is treated as a coordinate._
   - _Physicists still debate why time seems to run in only one direction._
16. Tempo; the measured pace at which something moves or is performed.
   - Simple: In music, the speed and regularity of the beat.
   - _For the final chorus, the band switched to double time and the crowd danced faster._
   - _The pallbearers walked in slow time to the beat of a single drum._
17. In music, the rhythmic pattern of beats in each bar, as shown by the time signature; also, staying in step with that beat ('keep time', 'out of time').
   - Simple: In music, the pattern and steadiness of the beat, as in 'three-four time' or 'keep time'.
   - _Check the time signature before you count in._
   - _The march changes time in the middle section._
19. The end of someone's life, conceived as having been appointed, used with a possessive.
   - Simple: With 'his', 'her' and so on, the moment someone is fated to die.
   - _She went before her time._
   - _When my time comes, I want to be at home._
20. The hour of childbirth.
   - Simple: The moment when a baby is due to be born.
22. In pubs, the hour of closing; last call. *(UK)*
   - Simple: In pubs, the hour when the bar closes.
   - _Drink up, it's nearly time._
   - _They rang the bell for time._

## Verb

11. To measure or log when something happens, how long it lasts, or how fast it proceeds.
   - Simple: To measure how long something takes.
   - _Someone should time the speeches._
   - _Every lap was timed to the hundredth of a second._
12. To choose when something begins or how long it lasts.
   - Simple: To choose when something happens or how long it lasts.
   - _The fireworks were perfectly timed to the music at the end of the concert._
   - _A good comedian knows how to time a pause._
18. To mark or set the beat of something, as in music, or to make one's movements keep pace with a rhythm.
   - Simple: To beat out a rhythm, or to move in step with one.
   - _Rowers learn to time their strokes to the coxswain's call._
   - _She timed her breathing to the slow beat of the drum._

## Interjection

21. Used as a bartender's call to announce the end of drinks service and the closing of the establishment.
   - Simple: Called out by a bartender to say the pub is closing.
   - _Time, please, he shouted over the noise._
   - _Time! No more drinks tonight._
23. Called by a referee, umpire or timekeeper to mark the start or end of a round or period, or to tell players to resume play.
   - Simple: Called out by a referee or umpire to start or stop a round, or to tell players to start again.
   - _Time, the referee shouted, and the round was over._
   - _Seconds out, time!_

## Other meanings

- (noun) In some physical theories, the feature of a system that lets it take on more than one distinct state.
- (noun) In music, especially drumming, a plain steady beat played with no fills or decorative breaks.
- (noun) In grammar, the verb form that shows when an action happens, a tense.
- (noun) A long while, as a shortened slang form.
- (verb) To mark the beat, or to move in step with a rhythm.
- (verb) To let time pass, or to linger instead of moving on.

## Origin

From Middle English tyme, from Old English tīma ("time, period, season, lifetime, opportunity"), from Proto-Germanic *tīmô, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root *deh₂y- meaning "to divide." It is related to tide and, despite appearances, is not related to Latin tempus.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/time (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).