Definition of "time"

time

/taɪm/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural times
1. (uncountable) The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present and past events.
  Quotations
  Time is the fire in which we burn.
  1937, Delmore Schwartz, Calmly We Walk Through This April's Day‎
  One of the most common truisms on Earth is the advice to value or at least not waste time. Why has it become so widespread? Every person eventually realizes that time is the most valuable resource on the planet. Not oil or uranium. Not lithium or anything else, but time. Time. The very flow of time convinces us of this. Some people realize this sooner, and these are the lucky ones. Others realize it too late when they lose someone or something. People cannot avoid it, this is just a matter of time. But there is a fundamental difference that comes down to the question of time. The time of your life is under your control. The time of life of our force on the front line, the time of life of all Ukrainians who are forced to live through this terrible Russian aggression unfortunately is subject to many factors that are not all in their control. I do not wish anyone to feel like they are in my shoes, and it's impossible to give a manual on how to go through life so as not to waste time. However, one piece of advice always works. You have to know exactly why you need today and how you want your tomorrows to look like.
  2023 May 26, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 0:40 from the start, in Zelenskyy surprises the Johns Hopkins commencement ceremony‎, MSNBC, archived from the original on 2023-05-26
  1. (physics, usually uncountable) A dimension of spacetime with the opposite metric signature to space dimensions; the fourth dimension.
    Quotations
    So long as I travelled at a high velocity through time, this scarcely mattered; I was, so to speak, attenuated — was slipping like a vapour through the interstices of intervening substances!
    1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, page 35
    We all have a visceral understanding of what it means for the universe to have multiple space dimensions, since we live in a world in which we constantly deal with a plurality — three. But what would it mean to have multiple times? Would one align with time as we presently experience it psychologically while the other would somehow be "different"?
    2010, Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory, W. W. Norton & Company, page 204
  2. (physics, uncountable) Change associated with the second law of thermodynamics; the physical and psychological result of increasing entropy.
    Quotations
    Eventually time would also die because no processes would continue, no light would flow.
    2012, Robert Zwilling, Natural Sciences and Human Thought, Springer Science & Business Media, page 80
    Given the connection between increasing entropy and the arrow of time, does the Big Crunch mean that time would run backwards as soon as collapse began?
    2015, Highfield, Arrow Of Time, Random House
  3. (physics, uncountable, reductionist definition) The property of a system which allows it to have more than one distinct configuration.
2. A duration of time.
  1. (uncountable) A quantity of availability of duration.
    Quotations
    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
  2. (countable) A measurement of a quantity of time; a numerical or general indication of a length of progression.
    Quotations
    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.
    The shock of the water, of course, woke him, and he swam for quite a time.
    1938, Richard Hughes, In Hazard
  3. (uncountable, slang) The serving of a prison sentence.
    Quotations
    Arrested on duty at Fort Richardson, both parents had worked hard at blaming the other for their son's death, but Kate's meticulous recording of the detail of the bruising found on the child's body and the physical evidence surrounding the scene, plus patient, painstaking interviews with neighbors above and below stairs had resulted in time for both.
    1994, Dana Stabenow, A Cold-Blooded Business, page 64
    "Ain't gone be no Rikers Island for you next time," I warned him. "You get tapped on another gun charge and you looking at some upstate time."
    2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, page 108
  4. (countable) An experience.
    Quotations
    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, The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
  5. (countable) An era; (with the, sometimes in the plural) the current era, the current state of affairs.
    Quotations
    O the times, O the customs!
    63 BC, First Oration against Catiline (translation)
    The time is out of joint
    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, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)
    Dr. Manuel: You're wasting your time. The age of humanity is over. Our extinction is inevitable.[...]Shepard: I don't have time for this.Dr. Manuel: Time? Our time is over.
    2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Eden Prime
  6. (uncountable, with possessive) A person's youth or young adulthood, as opposed to the present day.
  7. (only in singular, sports and figuratively) Time out; temporary, limited suspension of play.
3. An instant of time.
  1. (uncountable) How much of a day has passed; the moment, as indicated by a clock or similar device.
    Quotations
    Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
    2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34
  2. (countable) A particular moment or hour; the appropriate moment or hour for something (especially with prepositional phrase or imperfect subjunctive).
    Quotations
    The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.
    1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
    It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. It is a tax system that is pivotal in creating the increasing inequality that marks most advanced countries today – with America standing out in the forefront and the UK not far behind.
    2013 June 7, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19
  3. (countable) A numerical indication of a particular moment.
  4. (countable) An instance or occurrence.
    Quotations
    Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
    1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity
    One more time. Audio (US)(file)
    2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
  5. (UK, in public houses) Closing time.
  6. The hour of childbirth.
    Quotations
    She was within little more than one month of her time.
    1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707
  7. (as someone's time) The end of someone's life, conceived by the speaker as having been predestined.
4. (countable) The measurement under some system of region of day or moment.
5. (countable) Ratio of comparison.
6. (grammar, dated) Tense.
  Quotations
  Though we have, in the notes under the thirteenth rule of the Grammar, explained in general the principles, on which the time of a verb in the infinitive mood may be ascertained, and its form determined; [...]
  1823, Lindley Murray, Key to the Exercises Adapted to Murray's English Grammar, Fortland, page 53f
  The participles of the future time active, and perfect passive, when joined with the verb esse, were sometimes used as indeclinable; thus, [...]
  1829, Benjamin A. Gould, Adam's Latin Grammar, Boston, page 153
7. (music) The measured duration of sounds; measure; tempo; rate of movement; rhythmical division.
  Quotations
  some few lines set unto a solemn time
  1619–1620, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The False One. A Tragedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, Act I, scene ii
8. (slang, MLE) Clipping of a long time.
  Quotations
  I used to pay for things but that was time ago.
  2019 September 15, “Wiley Flow” (track 12), in Heavy Is The Head‎, performed by Stormzy
  Ats' mum is looking for him, says he ain't been back in time
  2022 March 18, Ronan Bennett, Gerry Jackson, Tyrone Rashard, Sagirah Gammon, 00:38:33 from the start, in Brady Hood, director, Top Boy(Good Morals) (4), episode 1 (TV), spoken by girl called B
  INCHEZ:Man this is long! We've been in here for time!
  2023 January 15, Layton Williams, 12:51 from the start, in Freddy Syborn, director, Bad Education(Prison) (4), episode 3 (TV), spoken by Inchez (Anthony J. Abraham)
verb
third-person singular simple present times, present participle timing, simple past and past participle timed
1. To measure or record the time, duration, or rate of.
2. To choose when something begins or how long it lasts.
  Quotations
  There is surely no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and onsets of things.
  1625, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the chapter)”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret
3. (obsolete) To keep or beat time; to proceed or move in time.
  Quotations
  With oar strokes timing to their song.
  1861, John Greenleaf Whittier, At Port Royal
4. (obsolete) To pass time; to delay.
5. To regulate as to time; to accompany, or agree with, in time of movement.
  Quotations
  Who overlooked the oars, and timed the stroke.
  1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses
  He was a thing of blood, whose every motion / Was timed with dying cries.
  c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii]
6. To measure, as in music or harmony.
interjection
1. (tennis) Reminder by the umpire for the players to continue playing after their pause.
2. The umpire's call in prizefights, etc.
3. A call by a bartender to warn patrons that the establishment is closing and no more drinks will be served.

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