| 释义 |
▪ I. time, n.|taɪm|
Forms: 1–2 tíma, týma, 2–8 tyme, 4 tim, teme, teyme, 4–6 tym, 6 taym, 2– time.
[OE. tíma = ON. tími, wk. masc., time, fit or proper time, (first, etc.) time, good time, prosperity (Da. time, Sw. timme an hour),:—OTeut. *tî-mon-, app. f. a root tî- to stretch, extend (see tide n.) + abstr. suffix -mon, -man (see Kluge Stammbildungslehre §154).]
I. = A space or extent of time.
1. a. A limited stretch or space of continued existence, as the interval between two successive events or acts, or the period through which an action, condition, or state continues; a finite portion of ‘time’ (in its infinite sense: see 24), as a long time, a short time, some time, for a time.
in no time, in less than no time (colloq.), immediately, very quickly or soon. absolute time: see quot. 1842.
c893K. ælfred Oros. iv. v. §5 Ymbe ðone timan þe þiss wæs. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 60 Hit wæs ᵹewunelic on ðam timan. a1225Leg. Kath. 437 He heold on..long time of þe dei. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4190 [Caesar] tok his leue.. To wende fro þem for longe teymes. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 63 And tolde whi þat tempest so longe tyme dured. c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 386 Nat longe tyme after that this Grisild Was wedded, she a doghter hath ybore. c1440Promp. Parv. 494/1 Tyme, idem quod tyyde (P. tyme, whyle, tempus). 1572Forrest Theophilus 263 in Anglia VII, By so longe tyme as his busshoppe dyd lyue. 1610Shakes. Temp. iii. ii. 93 After a little time Ile beate him too. 1662Gerbier Princ. 28 No New Building could stand any time without Proppings. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iv. §5 The highest mountains in the World..may be ascended in three dayes time. 1670Sir S. Crow in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 15 [Hangings] that—for a time—will look better to the eye. 1711Addison Spect. No. 37 ⁋1 It was some time before the Lady came to me. 1762Kames Elem. Crit. (1833) 479 A child perceives an interval, and that interval it learns to call time. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxv, Annette..was absent a considerable time. 1832In no time [see no a. 3 b]. 1843Borrow Bible in Spain xxix. (1901) 417 Follow me..and I will lead you to Finisterre in no time. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 291 The time occupied..was not to exceed fourteen days in one year. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 195 In less than no time you shall hear. 1842Brande Dict. Sci., etc. s.v., Absolute Time is time considered in itself without reference to that portion of duration to which it belongs, however noted or marked. 1868Duke of Argyll in Mem. (1906) II. xlvi. 540 Have we any link connecting time-relative with time-absolute?
b. † (a) The space of an hour (for OE. tíd, tide n. 2). Obs. rare. (b) A space of time, generally understood to mean a year. (A literalism of biblical translation.)
(a)c1320Cast. Love 1403 Riht in to helle he eode, Fourti tymen [v.r. tymes] þer he wes [orig. Quarante ures i demora] Er þat he vp risen ches.
(b)1382Wyclif Dan. iv. 13 [16] The herte of wijlde beest be ȝouen to it, and seuen tymes be chaungid vpon hym. Ibid. xii. 7. 1382 ― Rev. xii. 14 She is fed bi tyme, and tymes, and the half of tyme [v.r. half a tyme]. 1535Coverdale ibid., She is noryszhed for a tyme, two tymes, and halffe a tyme. [So in later versions.] 1827G. S. Faber Sacr. Calend. Prophecy (1844) I. 27 Of such numbers, the three times and a half, the 42 months, and the 1260 days, are mutually equivalent.
2. A particular period indicated or characterized in some way. † that time (obs.), at, for the time, for (the) time being († during), during the period under consideration.
c1000ælfric Hom. II. 340 Hit is awriten be ðam yfelum timan. a1023Wulfstan Hom. ii. (Napier) 19 æfter þisum fæce ᵹewurðan sceall swa eᵹeslic tima, swa æfre ær næs. Ibid. xiii. 81 Wa ðam wifum, þe þonne tymað and on þam earmlican timan heora cild fedað. 1154O.E. Chron. an. 1137 (Laud MS.), On al þis yuele time heold Martin abbot his abbotrice. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 72 Sithen þe pestilence tyme. 1474Caxton Chesse ii. iv. (1883) 53 As the Knyghtes shold kepe y⊇ peple in tyme of peas. 1486Rec. St. Mary at Hill 2 That the forsaid tenementes & Rent..shall hoolly remayn to the parisshens..for the tyme beyng for euer. Ibid. 15 The Mayre or Wardeyn of the Citee of london for the tyme beyng. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 75 b, He had the best right & title for the tyme duryng, to the shadoe of the Asse. 1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 114 To pass his Times of Recreation In choice and noble Conversation. a1774Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 645 Though the time for them be over, yet time itself is not exhausted. a1864(attributed to Pres. Lincoln), You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 233 All times of mental progress are times of confusion. 1883‘Mark Twain’ Life on Mississippi xliii. 440 It's human nature—human nature in grief. It don't reason, you see. 'Time being, it don't care a dam. 1913Granta 22 Feb. 225/1 When listening to a singer of such extraordinary natural gifts as Madame Melba, one loses the faculty of criticism for the time being. 1948V. Massey On being Canadian xi. 176 It is perhaps natural that there should be a period of pause; that we should not for the time-being be ‘on the march’. 1977J. Crosby Company of Friends xx. 127 The pilot's one of ours—for the time being.
3. a. A period in the existence or history of the world; an age, an era. In later use more indefinite, esp. in pl.
c1000ælfric Hom. II. 190 Þry timan sind on þyssere worulde: Ante legem, Sub lege, Sub gratia... Se tima is ‘ær æ’ ᵹecweden, þe wæs fram Adam buton æ oð Moysen. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 3 [Advent] bitocneð þre time. On þe was bi-fore þe olde laȝe, þe oðer was on þe holde laȝe, and þe þridde was on þe newe laȝe. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 192 Fram þe biginning of þe world to þe time þat now is Seuene ages þer habbeþ ibe as seue times iwis. Þe verste age & time was fram our ferste fader adam To noe. 1483Caxton Chron. (colophon), Here ende the Croniclis if englonde with the frute of timis. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 471 Tully calleth an history the witnes of tymes, and light of veritie. 1638Wilkins New World xiv. (1707) 125 Rondoletius, to whose Diligence these later Times are much beholden. 1686W. Hopkins tr. Ratramnus Dissert. iii. (1688) 59 The Southern Parts of France, where the Albigenses and Waldenses..have abounded in all Times ever since. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. 120 Lay aside the prejudice of birth, nations and times. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 39 With Northern Germany our connexion was, from the earliest times, most intimate. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 86 It is a folly, man, A superstition of these modern times.
b. time(s past, past time(s; old time, olden time, or ancient time(s, etc.
a1067in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 202 Swa he on ældum timum ᵹelæᵹd wæs. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 796 He loves men þat in ald tyme has bene. 14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 564/26 Antiquitus, yn olde tyme. c1470Henry Wallace i. 6 It has beyne seyne in thir tymys bywent. 1474Caxton Chesse iii. ii. (1883) 88 In tyme passid the philosophres dyde the same. 1549Compl. Scot. xi. 88 Thai sal intend veir contrar ȝour maister..as there forbears did in alld tymis. 1605[see olden a. 1]. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 259 A towne in ancient time of great fame. Ibid., It was fortified in times past with a castle. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Argent, In good old times when men were loath to publish their owne goodnesse. 1784Cowper Task vi. 715 Encomium in old time was poet's work. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 11 The memory of the great and the saintly of ancient time.
c. time(s to come, († time coming), times to be (arch.), future time; esp. future ages, the future.
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. i. 4 Þay sall joye nowe..and in tym to come. 1376in Eng. Gilds (1870) 53 Hopyng in tyme comyng to haue ben encresyd. c1440Alphabet of Tales 107 Þe paynys þat er ordand..for syn in tyme to com. 1578Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 36 That na pensionis of victuall be gevin in tyme cuming furth of the said superplus. 1891Ld. Coleridge in Law Times Rep. LXV. 581/1 It may become necessary to decide this point in time to come; it is not now.
d. the time (the times): the age now or then present. Cf. the day, the hour, the moment.
[1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 791 Rated them..As bumbast and as lining to the time.] 1596― Merch. V. ii. ix. 48 How much honor Pickt from the chaffe and ruine of the times, To be new varnisht. 1640New Serm. of Newest Fashion (1877) 45 Hee is the onelie man of the time, hee is the onelie able man. a1704T. Brown Two Oxf. Scholars Wks. 1730 I. 3 Cannot I..sigh for the Iniquities of the Times? 1850Tennyson In Mem. cvi. 18 Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xi. 55 An act which ran counter to the religious feelings of the time.
e. (there's) a good time coming.
1817Scott Rob Roy III. v. 149 ‘There's a guid time coming.’ ‘No time like the time present, Mr Campbell.’ 1846C. Mackay Voices from Crowd (1851) 9 There's a good time coming, boys, A good time coming: We may not live to see the day. 1873Trollope Lady Anna (1874) I. iii. 35 She did not believe in the good time coming as did her mother.
4. With possessive or of: The period contemporary with the life, occupancy, or activity of some one; (his) age, era, or generation. Often pl. = day n. 14.
962–3Laws Edgar Suppl. B. Leges sæculares c. 2, On minum timan, swa..on mines fæder. 1154O.E. Chron. an. 1135 (Laud MS.), On þis kinges time wes al unfrið & yfel. c1200Ormin 14429 Fra þatt tatt Adam shapenn wass Anan till Nowess time. a1300Cursor M. 10 Non in his tim was like. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 27 Phariseis..weren religiouse in Cristis tyme. 1484Caxton Fables of Poge v, Poge of Florence recyteth how in his tyme one named Hugh prynce of the medycyns sawe a catte whiche had two hedes. 1552Bk. Com. Prayer, Ordin. Pref., From the Apostles tyme there hathe bene these ordres of Ministers. 1625Bacon Ess., Riches (Arb.) 235 A Nobleman..that had the greatest Audits, of any Man in my Time. 1712Steele Spect. No. 497 ⁋2 In the time of Don Sebastian of Portugal. 1814Wordsw. White Doe i. 42 In great Eliza's golden time. 1832Tennyson Dream Fair Women ii, The spacious times of great Elizabeth. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. i, In these times of ours.
5. a. A period considered with reference to its prevailing conditions; the general state of affairs at a particular period. Chiefly pl.
Often in colloq. phrases, as as times go (= as things go in these times); behind the times (= behind the modes or methods of these times); to move with the times: see move v. 19 c.
1484Caxton Fables of æsop ii. viii, Men say comynly that after that the tyme goth, so must folke go. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. v. 188 The time is out of ioynt. 1712Steele Spect. No. 298 ⁋3 Persons, of tolerable Figure too as Times go. 1757Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 II. 96 We may make these times better, if we bestir ourselves. 1837J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 2) III. xii. 178 When times grew cold and unbelieving. 1846Dickens Dombey (1848) ix. 87 I'm old-fashioned, and behind the time. 1881Froude Short Stud. IV. ii. i. 163 How times had changed in the last forty years. a1912Mod. We live in perilous times. 1921E. O'Neill Diff'rent ii, in Emperor Jones 244 You needn't think we're all so behind the times..here just because you've been to France and all over. 1937‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier viii. 163 Here I shall be accused of being behind the times, for I was a child before and during the war and it may be claimed that children nowadays are brought up with more enlightened notions.
b. pl. Used as the name of a newspaper. Also used attrib. to designate typefaces designed for The Times.
1788(title) The Times. 1801G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 439, I found here the Times of Saturday. 1829(title) South Wales Times. 1854Hawthorne Eng. Note-Bks. (1883) I. 477 Every Englishman runs to ‘The Times’ with his little grievance. a1912Mod. There is an obituary notice in the Oxford Times. 1932S. Morison in Monotype Recorder XXXI. 12 (heading) The Times New Roman. Ibid. 13/1 A set of drawings was completed some two years ago, and the first size of what is now ‘The Times New Roman’ was cut in 9 point at the Monotype Works, Redhill, in April, 1931. 1963Times 4 June 8/4 Time, the weekly news magazine, appears this week with a changed type face—Times Roman instead of the former old style. 1972Times 9 Oct. 1/4 After 40 years The Times today appears in a new body type, Times-Europa. This has been designed for The Times to suit changing printing methods and largely replaces Times Roman.
c. big time: see big a. B. 2. See also small time, small-time n. and a. (phr.).
6. A period considered with reference to one's personal experience; hence, an experience of a specified nature lasting some time; esp. in (to have) a (good, bad, etc.) time (of it); to make a time, i.e. a demonstration, fuss (U.S. colloq.).
to have a good time (= a time of enjoyment) was common in Eng. from c 1520 to c 1688; it was app. retained in America, whence readopted in Britain in 19th c. (See also good a. 10 d.) So to have the time of one's life, i.e. the best one has ever had; to have one more time (U.S. colloq.), to have a very good time; a good, etc., time was had by all. Also, (without specification, depending on context) a good or bad experience lasting some time; N. Amer. a social occasion, a party.
a1529Skelton Bk. 3 Foles Wks. 1843 I. 200 For to haue good tyme and to lyue meryly. 1647Trapp Comm. Ep. 59 They would have a fine time of it. Ibid. 199 Those poor..souls..have an ill time of it. 1666Pepys Diary 7 Mar., I went and had as good a time as heart could wish. 1673S'too him Bayes 26 It seems his servants had a good time on't. 1709Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1736) I. 97 Berintha..thought she should have a melancholy Time of it. 1836Mrs. Stowe in Life (1889) 81, I wish I were a man in your place—if I wouldn't have a grand time! 1856Olmsted Slave States 82, I was having a very good time with her, when her father came in and told her she was ‘troubling the gentleman’. 1860H. J. Hawley in Wisconsin Mag. Hist. (1936) Mar. 323, I had a time biding them good by. 1878in G. M. Story et al. Dict. Newfoundland Eng. (1982) 568/2 But..while on a visit to Bett's Cove [he] got on a time and ‘let the cat out of the bag’. 1882I. M. Rittenhouse Maud (1939) 149 I've had a ‘time’ with Mr. Blauvelt. 1883A. Pinkerton Spy of Rebellion xxi. 328 While there I met some of the boys, and we had a little ‘time’. 1886P. Robinson Valley Teet. Trees iii, We'll have a high old time together. 1887[see life n. 8 a]. 1888Boston Jrnl. 31 July 2/5 She doesn't weep at the parting or make any time over it. 1898E. N. Westcott David Harum 14 Mis' Perkins don't hev much of a time herself. 1901N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 228 No other troops made such a time about water as the Americans. 1902E. Banks Newspaper Girl i, Think of that when you are tempted to have a good time instead of studying hard. 1913H. Kephart Our Southern Highlanders xiii. 286 ‘We had one more time’ means a rousing good time. 1921R. Hichens Spirit of Time 186 Arab chieftains..having the time of their lives in the redecorated hotels. 1921E. O'Neill Diff'rent ii, in Emperor Jones 251, I told her to cut the rough work and behave—and a nice time was had by all. 1933Greenleaf & Mansfield Ballads & Sea Songs Newfoundland p. xxii, To raise money for the schoolhouse and the church, the Sally's Cove people held a ‘toime’ on Orangemen's Day, which took the form of an all-day fair and was held in the school-house. 1949F. Maclean Eastern Approaches iii. ix. 406 After that we mixed a delicious drink in the bath tub, and a good time, as the saying goes, was had by all. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) ii. 18 So I..decided I'd get off the train in New York, take the subway to Harlem, have myself a time. 1963L. Diack Labrador Nurse iv. xxxiii. 155 A ‘Time’ was an evening Social, with Sale of Work, supper and dance, and all the food served at the ‘Time’ was supplied and cooked and served by those same women. 1964Amer. Folk Music Occasional i. 15 Ah yes, they used to have some times... That was in the old days. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 7 May vi. 8/8 The state stages such exciting and colorful events as the annual Clam, Broiler, Potato,..and Blueberry Festivals.., not to mention..scores of other ‘times’. 1969in Halpert & Story Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland 82 A ‘time’ is any function given in the school, or local Orangemen's Lodge: a card party, a dance, or a dance combined with a ‘soup supper’. 1976‘W. Trevor’ Children of Dynmouth i. 13 He hoped..that Lavinia wasn't having a time with the twins, cooped inside on a damp afternoon.
7. Period of duration; prescribed or allotted term.
a. Period of existence or action; period of one's life, life-time.
c1000ælfric Hom. I. 4 His tima ne bið na langsum; forþan þe Godes grama hine fordeð. c1200Vices & Virt. 39 Behoueþ to charite on alle ðines liues time. c1400Brut cxxxv. 142 Þo seisede Kyng Henry al Normandye into his hand, & helde hit al his lifes tyme. 1535Coverdale Ps. cii[i]. 15 That a man in his tyme is but as is grasse. 1549Compl. Scot. i. 21 Of this sort euere thyng hes ane tyme. 1577in Exch. Rolls Scotl. (1899) XX. 373 In the resyngnatioun, to hymself [and] his wyf, for their tym. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 142 One man in his time playes many parts. 1657Thornley tr. Longus' Daphnis & Chloe 55, I am older then Saturn, and the whole time of this Universe. 1833Carlyle Ess., Cagliostro ii, The foul sluggard's comfort: ‘It will last my time.’—It will last thy time, thy worthless sham of an existence.
b. spec. (a) The period of gestation. (b) The menstrual period; transf. menstruation. (c) (One's) term of apprenticeship. (d) The duration of a term of imprisonment; usually in phrase to do time (slang). (e) An unexpired period of compulsory service (U.S.). (f) The prescribed duration of the interval between two rounds in boxing, or of a round or game in athletics, football, etc., or the moment at which this begins or ends; also ellipt. as the signal to begin or end a bout, as in to call time. (g) The periodic time of a heavenly body: see periodic a. 1. (h) The prescribed duration of opening-hours at a public house; the moment at which this ends; also ellipt. as the signal for closing-time.
(a)c1000ælfric Hom. I. 30 Hire tima wæs ᵹefylled, ðæt heo cennan sceolde. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 127 A cowe and a quene haue both one time. 1809Malkin Gil Blas xi. i. (Rtldg.) 392 Beatrice's time was up first: she was safely delivered of a daughter. 1965P. Wrightson Thirteen paint Portrait i. 59 Marion looks rather ghastly. Poor girl, she is nearly at the end of her ‘time’.
(b)1564–78W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest. (1888) 41 Certaine people maie not bleede, as women whiche haue their times aboundauntlie. 1704Collect. Voy. (Churchill) III. 582/1 Women, who shall not be subject to the monthly times. 1889[see monthly a. 1 b].
(c)c1645Howell Lett. (1650) I. 227 To be both of one trade, because when they are out of their time they may join stocks together. 1718Free-thinker No. 21 ⁋1 The..Indiscretion of Apprentices Marrying Servant-Wenches, before their Time is expired. 1808Byron Bards & Rev. 63 A man must serve his time to every trade, Save censure—critics all are ready made.
(d)1837Dickens O. Twist (1838) I. xviii. 306 His ‘time’ was only out an hour before. 1865[see do v. 11 i]. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xli, People can't be expected to associate with men that have ‘done time’. 1904Griffiths 50 Years Publ. Service xiii. 185 He did his ‘time’ without protest.
(e)1769Boston Gaz. (U.S.) 20 Nov. (Thornton Amer. Gloss.), To be sold for five Years, The Time of a hearty young Man, who is a good Sailor. 1843Missouri Reporter (U.S.) 28 Jan. (ibid.), I have for sale a very likely yellow woman, about 24 years of age... She has between five and six years to serve. The balance of her time will be sold very low.
(f)1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 102 George was the first to call ‘time’. 1821Egan Boxiana (1829) III. 571 When time was called, the men were to be immediately brought up to the scratch. 1829P. Egan Boxiana 2nd Ser. II. 519 The Gas was defeated, nay, hit out of time..to the great loss and chagrin of his friends. 1832Marryat N. Forster xlvii, It's a finisher—can't come to time. 1833Sporting Mag. Aug. 354/2 On time being called, Pilch went in again. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxii, In prize-fighting phraseology, [he] always came up to time with a cheerful countenance. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i, Three whiffs of which would knock any one else out of time [see knock v. 14 d]. 1892J. Higson Hist. Salford Football Club 52 A fight began, and the game was brought to an abrupt termination about five minutes before ‘Time’. 1926[see end n. 22 f]. 1976Sunday Mail (Glasgow) 28 Nov. 44/6 Scorers were Martin, in the first half, and Johnston just before time.
(h)1912G. Frankau One of Us xi. 104 Lingered a remnant; querulous to these, one spake unceasing: ‘Gentlemen! Time, Please!!’ 1922T. S. Eliot Waste Land ii. 23 Hurry up please its time. 1932L. Golding Magnolia St. i. iii. 47 Collecting empty glasses and shouting, ‘Time, gentlemen, please!’ 1953J. Mortimer Like Men Betrayed v. 87 It's not very comfortable in our pub... They're always shouting ‘time’ and turning the lights on and off. 1979‘C. Brand’ Rose in Darkness ii. 20 Soon he must turn her out..five minutes to Time. 1984Daily Tel. 4 Jan. 15/7 A car crashed into the Mermaid public house..and ended up in the bar just as the landlord..was calling time.
8. a. The length of time sufficient, necessary, or desired for some purpose; also, time available for employment; leisure or spare time.
c1220Bestiary 256 Ðus ȝe tileð ðar wiles ȝe time haueð. c1470Henry Wallace viii. 502 No teyme we haiff off segyng now to bid. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xv. 16 b, There was yet time inough to pleasure them. 1689Tryal Bps. 34 These Gentlemen have had time enough to have prepared Precedents. 1723Pres. St. Russia II. 325 In case the Russian Troops should get time of rallying. 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 88 He must have Time to consider of it. 1796F. Burney Camilla II. 23 Pray take your own time. I am not in any haste. 1865Ruskin Sesame ii. §62, I could multiply witness upon witness..if I had time.
b. The (shortest) period in which a given course of action is completed.
1842Congress. Globe 2 Mar. App. 188/2 A single horse in a sulky would..be able to make..even better time, with the letter mail alone. 1894Times 19 Nov. 7/3 Various new tandem times were made by the winners. 1899F. V. Kirby Sport E.C. Africa v. 61 One of them [the boys] came in sight, making excellent time towards the nearest tree, with the wounded cow in close pursuit. 1908Daily Chron. 15 Jan. 7/5 The times..did not compare with those established by the amateurs the day before. Still some wonderful times were put up.
c. pressed for time, short of time, in a hurry.
1817[see press v.1 6 e]. 1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. iii. ii, Being pressed greatly for time, in order to get back to London. 1942W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 274 Not impatient but just pressed for time.
d. it takes (a person) all his time, it presents great difficulties to, it requires great effort from. colloq.
1900R. Guthrie Kitty Fagan 208 We've a ticklish job on hand, an I'm boond to say, it's taken us all our time. 1905in Eng. Dialect Dict. VI. 151/2 It'll tak him all his time to mak that theäre public paay it waay. 1941E. Carr Klee Wyck 89 It took Jimmie all his time in the shallows to keep us in the channel.
e. Imp. phr. give (a person) time, be patient with (another), in expectation of some future change of attitude, competence, etc.
1902[see smile v. 8 b]. 1940W. Faulkner Hamlet i. iii. 60 He'll pick it up though... Just give him time. 1962J. F. Powers Morte d' Urban vii. 151, I don't say the present population wants it, but give 'em time.
f. With a quantifier: to have no (a lot of, etc.) time for, to have no, etc., respect or admiration for. colloq.
1911E. M. Clowes On Wallaby vi. 166 The merely fictitious value of age they [sc. Australian youth] ‘have no time for’. 1922C. Wilson Rambles in Bookland 3, I never had much time, to use an effective colloquialism, for the list of ‘the best hundred books’. 1938N. Marsh Artists in Crime xi. 156 The only one they seemed to have much time for was the Honourable Basil Pilgrim. 1952A. Grimble Pattern of Islands ix. 177 He never had much time for pen-pushers, as he called them. 1966J. Cleary High Commissioner xi. 247, I don't think he'd harm her... I think he had a lot of time for my wife. 1979M. Allen Spence at Blue Bazaar xix. 121 ‘Yes, I've got a lot of time for Lester,’ the Vicar continued... ‘He'll always lend a hand at a fête or whatever.’
g. Time available for a certain purpose, spec. for an advertising broadcast.
1930Daily Express 6 Sept. 4/6 To the big advertiser the broadcasting stations came with an offer to ‘sell time’ to pay the cost of broadcasting programmes. 1935S. Lewis It can't happen Here iv. 42 Father Charles Coughlin, of Detroit..first thought out the device of freeing himself from any censorship of his political sermons..by ‘buying his own time on the air’. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. i. 11/1 CBS-TV explained..that its policy ‘prohibits..the sale of time for the expression of views on current issues other than in connection with elections’. 1970Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 18 Sept. 30 The world's 1300 or so professional astronomers who obtain ‘time’ on the big telescopes all have different programmes in different parts of the sky. 1977Zigzag June 10/3 A friend of mine who was an engineer rang up to see if I had any songs I wanted to cut, because he could get me some time.
h. to take (one's) time: see take v. 28 a; lost time: see lost ppl. a. 3.
9. spec.
a. The amount of time worked under a specific contract; hence, in workmen's speech, pay equivalent to the period worked; also an account or certificate showing the days, hours, etc. worked, and wages due: usually called back time.
1795Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 116 This time as Mid is absolutely necessary as a part of the long six years. You had better get out his Time from the Navy Office. 1887Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) 12 Jan. 6/3 All that remained for the brakemen and switchmen to do was to go to the office..and call for what is known in railroad parlance as their ‘time’. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail viii. 56 So Pat and Henrys were not discharged—were not instructed to ‘get their time’. 1908Somerset Mag. Apr. 564 Tim added ‘And I'd like my time’. Time, in the cattle idiom, meant back pay up to date. a1912Mod. If you can't move a bit quicker, I'll send you to get your back time. 1926J. Black You can't Win xx. 317 He threw down his shovel, walked over to the boss, and demanded his ‘time’. I heard the foreman say: ‘All right, you're no good anyway. I was going to fire you to-night.’ 1935A. J. Cronin Stars look Down iii. xiv. 608 It broke his heart to give these fifty their time, to send them to join the six hundred men from the Neptune already on the dole.
b. time and a half and varr., one and a half (or one and a quarter, etc.) times the usual rate of pay.
1888Times 29 Sept. 6/6 The men asked to be paid [for overtime] at the rate of time and a half, but the Masters refused a greater rate than time and a quarter. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 16 Mar. 3/4 The extra payment was due to the time and a half allowance for overtime. 1931Economist 14 Mar. 552/2 Extra pay for night duty is to be reduced from ‘time and a quarter’ to ‘time and an eighth’, and for duty on Sunday, Christmas Day and Good Friday from ‘time and a half’ to ‘time and a third’. 1970Daily Tel. 9 Jan. 9 The claim..is for payment of time-and-a-quarter for the first six hours' overtime, time-and-a-half for the next six, and double time payments thereafter. 1976Ibid. 12 Nov. 2/1 They want holiday pay, at present single time, increased to time and a third. 1978M. Kenyon Deep Pocket ii. 28 Tell the men I'm paying time and a half for every forty yards dug by the weekend.
10. Anc. Prosody. A unit or group of units in metrical measurement. Also transf. in Mus.
A single time, primary time, or least time is the duration of utterance of a short syllable; = mora1 3; a double time or compound time is composed of two or more single times.
[c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 314 Ðæt riht meter vers sceal habban feower and twentiᵹ timan. Ibid., Dactilus stent on anum langum timan and twam sceortum and spondeus stent of feowrum langum.] 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xii. (Arb.) 132 A new inuention of feete and times. 1686New Method to Learn to Sing 50 In this Example, you have two Staves of Lines; in the upper are Semibreves, each of which is a Time, and fill up a Bar. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Some call each half of the measure in common time, a time. 1749J. Mason Numbers in Poet. Comp. 8 The Measure of single Time is the Space in which we commonly pronounce any of the Liquids or Consonants, preceded by a Vowel, e.g. an, of, it, in. 1832Encycl. Amer. XI. 591 The short syllable..is considered as the original unit for the measure of time in the rhythm, and is called a time, or mora.
11. Mil. The rate of marching, calculated on the number of paces taken per minute. slow time: see the adj.; see also double time, quick time. to mark time: see mark v. 10 b.
1802–1876 [see quick time]. 1853Stocqueler Milit. Encycl. s.v. Pace, In quick time, 108 paces, or 270 feet, are taken in a minute; and in slow time, seventy-five paces, or 187 feet. In double time, 150 paces of thirty-six inches, making 450 [feet] in a minute. 1859Field Exerc. Infantry 21 The time having been given on a drum, on the word March, the squad will move off.
12. Music.
a. † The duration of the breve in relation to the semibreve; cf. mood n.2 3 a, prolation 2 (obs.); hence, the rhythm or measure of a piece of music, now marked by division of the music into bars, and usually denoted by a fraction expressing the number of aliquot parts of a semibreve in each bar (time-signature, see 60 a). to beat time: see beat v.1 32. in time, out of time, in or out of correct rhythm. † perfect time, imperfect time: see perfect a. 10, imperfect a. 7.
1531Elyot Gov. i. xxi, The associatinge of man and woman in daunsing, they bothe obseruinge one nombre and tyme in their meuynges. 1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. v. (1623) K iij, Now and then she beginneth in duple time some two or three Semibriefes. 1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. iii. 62 'Tis..in the same Time and Tune. 1710Addison Tatler No. 153 ⁋14 To play out of Time. 1854Helmore Pract. Lect. Church Music 6 It is sometimes said..that in Plain Song ‘there is no time’. 1884Rockstro in Grove Dict. Mus. IV. 117/2 In modern Music, the word Time is applied to rhythmic combinations of all kinds, mostly indicated by fractions, (3/8 etc.) referring to the aliquot parts of a Semibreve—the norm by which the duration of all other notes is and always has been regulated. 1893Stevenson Catriona i. 4 A..brisk tramp of feet in time and clash of steel.
b. The rate at which a piece is performed; the tempo; hence, the characteristic tempo, rhythm, form, and style of a particular class of compositions (usually in combination, as dance-time, march-time, waltz-time).
[1446Lydg. Two Nightingale Poems i. 80 But, doun descendyng, she said in hasti tyme: ‘My lyfe be kynde endure shall not longe’. 1602Middleton Blurt iii. i. E j, To keep quick time unto the owl.] 1887Baring-Gould Gaverocks xiii, Little feet beat the dance time on the..floor. 1903Critic XLIII. 361/1 Rag-time music, which interprets that divine art only for vulgar heels and toes. Mod. A movement in slow time.
c. The time-value or duration of a note. (Not in technical use.)
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Where the time or duration of the notes is equal, the differences of tune alone are capable to entertain us. 1776Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) I. vi. 63 The most common application of this term [Rhythm] has been to express the Time or duration of many sounds heard in succession.
II. = Time when: a point of time; a space of time treated without reference to its duration.
The ‘point’ may be an instant (as the time when a star crosses the meridian), or it may have some duration (as the time for sowing), but the question of its length is not considered, only the question when it occurs (i.e. where it is situated in the period), and its distinctive qualification.
13. a. A point in the course of time or of a period: = tide n. 3; spec. in early ME., the hour of the day; = OE. tíd: see tide n. 4. In mod.Eng. what is the time? i.e. the hour and minute as shown by the clock. what time, at what time, = when, (at) the time that: see what.
c1200Ormin 12745 Þatt time..Wass rihht swa summ itt off þatt daȝȝ Þe tende time wære. a1225St. Marher. 8 As þah hit were þe seoueðe time of þe dei. c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §3 To knowe..euery tyme of the nyht by the sterres fixe. 1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 162 By the light you shall catch a few words in the book, or the time on the watch. 1834Nat. Philos. III. Astron. i. 35/1 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.) The difference between the actual time of the sun's being on the meridian and the beginning of the mean solar day. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert viii, Find out what time the marchesa intends to breakfast.
b. A point or fixed part of the year, a season, as in time of year; in comb. in spring-time, summer-time, autumn-time, winter-time; also term-time, vacation-time, holiday-time, etc.; also, of a day, as time of day, time of night, day-time, night-time, morning-time, evening-time; also dinner-time, bed-time, etc.; also, a point in the moon's age.
c1000ælfric Num xiii. 21 Hit wæs ða se tima ðæt winberian ripodon. c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 312 Feower timan beoþ... Uer ys lengten tima,..se oðer tima hatte æstas..Se þridda tima ys autumnus on lyden ᵹecweden. c1175Lamb. Hom. 119 Vre drihtnes halie passiun..is nu icumen in,..þe ure drihten þolede for us on þisse timan. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. iii. (Bodl. MS.), Þe ȝere of þe sonne..conteyneþ foure tymes, winter, springingtyme, somer, and harueste. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 74 Heruest bygynnes..and lastys lxxxviij dayes... In þis tyme ys also þe day and þe nyght euyne. a1529Skelton On Tyme 23 The rotys tak theyr sap in tyme of vere. 1566Blundevil Horsemanship iv. xxxii. (1580) 16 The horse that hath this disease, is blind at certaine times of the Moone. 1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. ix. III. 153 Fleeting showers of rain, unseasonable at the time of year.
†c. A season or part of the year considered with reference to the weather experienced; weather (of some kind). Obs. rare. (Cf. F. temps in similar sense.)
c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 93 Þe right of hym þat reygnyth ys more profitable to subgitz þan plente of good tyme. 1422Ibid., Priv. Priv. 220 The colerike by kynde..sholde haue a stomake good y-nowe, namely in colde tyme.
d. Stock Exchange. The account.
1901W. G. Cordingley Dict. Stock Exch. Terms 89 Time Bargains refer to those speculative transactions which are made for settlement on the next Account. They are made ‘for time’, and are ‘Bought for the Account’ or ‘Sold for the Account’. 1928Daily Mail 13 Aug. 18/2 Dealing for ‘new time’,..the new Stock Exchange account.
14. A point in duration marking or marked by some event or condition; a point of time at which something happens, an occasion. † on a time, on one occasion, once. at no time, on no occasion.
c893K. ælfred Oros. iv. v. §5 Ymbe ðone timan þe þiss wæs. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 78 Herodes..ᵹeornlice hi befran to hwilces timan se steorra him ærst æteowode. a1050O.E. Chron. an. 1009 (Laud MS.) On þisum ilcan timan oððe litle ær þet [etc.]. c1205Lay. 2582 Seoððen him a time com mid teonen he wes i-funden. c1275Ibid., Suþþe him com a time þat he to wode wende. a1225Leg. Kath. 2 Constantin & Maxence weren, on ane time..hehest in Rome. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2243 At þis tyme twelmonyth þou toke þat þe falled. c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 830 Aurelius..Curseth the tyme þat euere he was born. 1470–85Malory Arthur ii. i. 75 Soo it befelle on a tyme whanne kyng Arthur was at London. 1538Starkey Let. in England p. lxxiii, Long and much at sundry tymis. 1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 36 From that time forward he would hold the Bowe to be the onelie weapon of the world. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xii, By this time the unfortunate Moses was undeceived. 1837J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 3) I. vii. 99 Surely man is at all times the same being. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 27 This..trick escaped detection at the time. 1873Black Pr. Thule xxv, It will be nearly two by the time you get down.
15. a. The appointed, due, or proper time.
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. lxiii. 459 Nu us is tima ðæt we onwæcnen of slæpe. c1000ælfric Colloq. in Wr.-Wülcker 102/1 Hwænne wylle ᵹe syngan?.. Þonne hyt tima byþ [Quando tempus erit]. 1154O.E. Chron. an. 1011, Mann nolde him to timan [MS. C. atiman] gafol bedan. c1175Lamb. Hom. 103 Þeo deð þet mon et er timan and drinceð. 13..Cursor M. 11814 (Cott.) Nu neghes tim to tak his lai. c140026 Pol. Poems xxv. 539 Tyme ys that men now for me pray, For Parce michi, domine! c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1274 Sires, it is tyme þat we hennes hye. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn xxiii. 74 It was tyme to go to bed. a1586Sidney Ps. xii. i, Lord, helpe, it is hyghe tyme for me to call. 1741–2Gray Agrippina 158 'Tis time to go, the sun is high advanc'd. 1809Malkin Gil Blas viii. i, My business consisted in..dunning the farmers, and keeping them to time in their payments. 1872Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 349/1 See that you are up to time.
b. Qualified by poss. pron., as his, her, its; often ellipt. for time of death, of childbirth, etc.; before (his, etc.) time, prematurely.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 18 Min tima is ᵹe-hende. Ibid. John v. 4 Drihtenes engel com to his timan [Hatton to hys tyme] on þone mere & þæt wæter wæs astyred. 1388Wyclif Prov. xxv. 11 A goldun pomel in beddis of siluer is he, that spekith a word in his [= its] time. c1440Aiphab. Tales 11 Sho wex grete & drew nere hur tyme. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 451 b, Y⊇ Quene..was with childe, and nere her time. 1689Hickeringill Ceremony-monger 126 A young Lady..Excommunicated for breaking her Leg or coming before her time. 1700Dryden Sigism. & Guiscard. 26 In the prime Of youth, her lord expired before his time. 1799Wordsw. Lucy Gray viii, The storm came on before its time. 1841Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. xii, in Miscellanies (1857) IV. 428 My poor wife, then very near her time, insisted upon accompanying me. 1853C. Brontë Villette 180 ‘Ten minutes behind his time’, said she. 1890Field 31 May 799/3 The Banksia roses..are bent on coming out before their time. 1931H. S. Walpole Judith Paris iii. 582 Judith was very near her time, and, in consideration..that this was her first child, it had been wiser of her perhaps not to have come. 1980R. Butler Blood-Red Sun at Noon (1981) i. i. 19 She..became pregnant... What she called ‘her time’ approached.
16. A or the favourable, convenient, or fitting point of time for doing something; the right moment or occasion; opportunity. (Often with his, her, etc.)
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxiii. 220 Se wisa hilt his spræce & bitt timan. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7633 Huld hem euere in Scotlond, & poer to hem nome, To worri vpe king willam, wanne god time come. 1382Wyclif Eccles. iii. 4 Time of weping, and time of laȝhing [1388 Tyme to wepe, and tyme to leiȝe]. c1386Chaucer Melib. ⁋.14 Whan she saugh hir tyme, she seyde hym in this wise: ‘Allas! my lord’. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lxvii. 230 When he sawe his tyme, he cryed his worde & token. 1590Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. Wks. (Grosart) I. 233 There is a time for speech, and a time for silence. c1610Bodley in Reliq. (1703) 108 A Clock and a Bell will be needful for the Library..: but every thing must have his time. 1709Steele Tatler No. 36 ⁋4 When Stocks are lowest, it is the Time to buy. a1722Fountainhall Decis. (1759) I. 9 They must wait their tour, since the devil bides his time. c1810W. Hickey Mem. (1960) xix. 309 Now's your time, Hickey. That beast Mordaunt was called away..so that you will have a couple of days' enjoyment together. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 512 An adversary of no common prowess was watching his time. Mod. Now's your time!
17. a. Any one of the occasions on which something is done or happens; each occasion of a recurring action. Often qualified by a numeral. (= OE. síð: see sithe n.1 4–5.) With a price: (so much) a time, on each occasion, (colloq.) for each item.
For † one time, † two times have been substituted once, twice. at a time, at one time, at once, simultaneously.
c1300St. Julian 108 (Ashm. MS.) Let me go at þis one tyme. I ne schal neuereft derie þe. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 350 How þat men shulde snybbe þer breþeren bi þre tymes. c1400Destr. Troy 8272 The next tym þou noyes me, þou neghis to þe fer. 1454Rolls of Parlt. V. 241/1 At too tymes hath be made requestes to the seid Lieutenaunt. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 300 b, How he wolde deny the thre tymes that nyght. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 441 b, The third way..hath bene diuers times assaied. 1611Bible John xxi. 16 He saith to him againe the second time, Simon Sonne of Ionas, louest thou me? 1660R. Ellsworth in Extr. S. P. rel. Friends ii. (1911) 122 Heere they..haue their Meeteings at all Seasons..sometymes about 1000 or 1200 att a tyme. 1712Steele Spect. No. 422 ⁋1 An utter Aversion to speaking to more than one Man at a time. 1718R. Grosvenor in C. T. Gatty Mary Davies (1921) II. 205 One that is grown pretty rich by his attendance upon Patients in Garrets at Half-a-Crown a time. 1829Landor Imag. Conv., Villèle & Corbière I. 123 He did it fifty times, at the very least. 1876Trevelyan Macaulay II. ix. 125 The publishers..are still pouring forth reprints by many thousands at a time. 1976West Lancs. Evening Gaz. 13 Dec. 7/5 Buying..cashmere scarves at {pstlg}15 a time.
b. Agric. (See quots.) dial.
1813R. Kerr Agric. Surv. Berw. 198 The completest harrowing is called a double double time; in which the harrow goes four times successively over the same range. 1857N. & Q. 2nd Ser. IV. 80/1 ‘A time’..in some parts of Scotland is the act of once furrowing between two ploughings. 1894Northumbld. Gloss., Time, the journey once across a field in agriculture. Time-aboot, a double journey in field work, extending from heedrig to heedrig and back again.
c. every time: see every a. 1 e.
18. many a time, † many time, many times, also times and often, times without number, many a time and oft (often), many's the time, on many occasions, in many instances; often, frequently. Also elliptically times (also sometimes, at times).
c1250Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 30 Ure lord god almichti..habbeþ mani-time maked of watere wyn gostliche. 1375Barbour Bruce i. 336 That may mony tyme awaill. c1400Rom. Rose 6974, I am gladly executour And many tymes a procuratour. 1535Coverdale Ps. lxxvii. 38 Many a tyme turned he his wrath awaye. 1560Ingelend Disob. Child D ij b, Many a tyme and oft, I am fayne To playe the Priest, Clarke, and all. 1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons Ded. 6 Which I haue heard manie, and manie times publikelie reported by manie valiant Gentlemen. 1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (Hakl. Soc.) 115 Which..many time is cause of dissention. 1701De Foe True-born Eng. ii. 312 Englishmen have done it many a time. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 51 Many a time and oft..you carried me in your arms. 1808E. Sleath Bristol Heiress III. 94 The fine handsome young officer, who has been here times and often. 18..G. Meredith Juggling Jerry ii, We've travelled times to this old common. 1892Law Times XCII. 147/1 Times without number the courts in bankruptcy have been called upon to decide the question. 1899R. W. Trine In Tune with Infinite (1903) 186 Those who take great pride in speaking of their own practicality are many times the least practical. 1920E. O'Neill Beyond Horizon ii. i. 67 Many's the time I've said to her [etc.]. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xxiii. 247 You have many a time and oft referred to her as a piece of cheese. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling xvii. 213 Seems to me, times, hit ain't done nothin' to you but sharpen your tongue. 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes i. iii. 48 Many's the time Sir Beerbohm Tree's stood outside the theatre. 1968C. Aird Henrietta Who? xiv. 130 Times, it's a bit quiet at Holly Tree. 1980P. G. Winslow Counsellor Heart iii. 52 There's one that likes a joke. Times I've had her in fits. 1982S. Johnson Of Wilful Intent i. 13 ‘And you say this has all been reported before?’ the sergeant asked him. ‘Times,’ came the despondent reply.
19. a. Preceded by a cardinal numeral and followed by a number or expression of quantity: used to express the multiplication of the number, etc. Also attrib. with table or ellipt., designating the multiplication table of the preceding cardinal number. Cf. times table, sense 60 below.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 309 As foure tymes sixe maken þis noumbre. c1425Crafte Nombrynge 2 Ten tymes twene is twenty. Ibid. 4 If it stonde in the secunde place of þe rewle, he betokens ten tymes hym selfe, as þis figure 2 here. c1440Jacob's Well 45 Thre tymes ten is thretty. 1726Swift Gulliver ii. iii, An animal of ten times my strength. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. iii. xvi, Four times fifty living men. 1868G. Duff Pol. Surv. 48 His territories in Asia..are more than twenty-one times the size of Scotland. 1906Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 38, I don't know my Nine Times—not to say it dodging. 1973J. Wainwright Touch of Malice 124 A long-suffering father explaining the two-times-table to his dull-witted son. 1976D. Storey Saville xi. 133, I want you to recite the two times, the three times, right through to your twelve times. 1982Sunday Tel. 2 May 11/1 (heading) Know your 6-times table.
b. Also followed by an adj. or adv. in the comparative degree, or in the positive by as (formerly so) with an adj. or adv., expressing comparison.
1551Crowley Pleas. & Pain 229 This might you reade, and ten tymes more In the Bible. c1567Stow in Surv. (1908) I. p. li, Fabyan..was a very nowghty cronycle, and Copin..was x. tymes worse. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 45 They shall pay tenne times so much as it is worth. 1644Nye Gunnery i. 5 Which composition I will call 6--1--1, meaning six times so much Peter [nitre], as one time Sulpher, and one time Cole. 1712Addison Spect. No. 415 ⁋8 A Gothick Cathedral tho' it be five times larger than the other. 1876Gladstone Glean. (1879) II. 289 Men who had ten or twenty times less to remember. Mod. We have five times as many as we can use.
†20. Gram. = tense n. 2. Obs.
1530Palsgr. Introd. 32 In these syxe modes be dyvers tymes. Ibid. 84 Tenses or tymes they have in every of these modes. c1620A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 31 Tyme is an affection of the verb noating the differences of tyme, and is either present, past, or to cum.
21. Fencing. See quots., and cf. time-attack, time-thrust in 60.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Time in fencing.—There are three kinds of time; that of the sword, that of the foot, and that of the whole body. All the times that are perceived out of their measure, are only to be considered as appeals, or feints, to deceive and amuse the enemy. 1753Ibid., Supp. s.v. Binding, Binding is a method of pursuit more safe and certain..than taking of time. 1809Roland Fencing vii. §1 To take the time, is making your thrust by a judicious discernment on the motion of your adversary.
22. Manège. (= F. temps.) Applied to each completed motion or action.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Time, in the manege, is sometimes taken for the motion of a horse, that observes measure and justness in performing a manege. In the manege of a step and a leap, the horse makes by turns a corvet between two caprioles; and in that case the corvet is one Time that prepares the horse for the caprioles. Ibid., A good horseman disposes his horse for the effects of the heel, by beginning with one Time of the legs, and never runs precipitately upon his Times.
23. pl. Originally (in sense 15), The fixed hours of the day at which an omnibus started from its various stations; hence, the established business enterprise of running an omnibus on a given route at such times, and the ‘good-will’ thus created by the owners of public service vehicles over particular routes, as a recognized vendible asset.
1863E. Yates Business of Pleasure (1865) I. 40 They [the London General Omnibus Company] possessed themselves of the ‘times’ of all the important routes in London and the suburbs. These ‘times’ are, in fact, the good will of the roads, and were considered so valuable, that in some cases as much as from {pstlg}200 to {pstlg}250 were given for the ‘times’ of one omnibus. 1906Westm. Gaz. 15 May 2/3 Emphasis [is] laid in one of the various motor-'bus prospectuses, just now..upon the value of the ‘times’ owned by each member of the associated companies. Ibid., The ‘times’, which are a special privilege, religiously guarded by the omnibus fraternity,..were also made over as a part of the bargain.
III. In generalized sense.
24. Indefinite continuous duration regarded as that in which the sequence of events takes place.
a. Attempts to define or explain.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. ii. (Bodl. MS.), Tyme is mesure of chaungeable þinges, as Aristotel seith. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxix. §2 Now as Nature bringeth forth Time with Motion, so wee by Motion haue learned how to diuide Time, and by the smaller parts of Time, both to measure the greater, and to know how long all things else indure. Ibid., Some haue defined time to be the measure of the motion of heauen. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xiv. §17 This Consideration of Duration, as set out by certain Periods, and marked by certain Measures or Epochs, is that, I think, which most properly we call Time. 1854Calderwood Philos. Infinite v. 88 Add event to event, still Time is recognised as stretching forth, and still there is room for more. 1862Spencer First Princ. ii. iii. §47 (1875) 163 The abstract of all sequence is Time.
b. Examples of this use of the word. time will tell (and varr.); borrowed time: see borrowed ppl. a. 1; the (very) nick of time: see nick n.1 9.
1480Robt. Devyll 121 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 224 The tyme drewe so, that nyne monethes was past. 1539R. Taverner tr. Erasm. Prov. f. 37 Tempus omnia reuelat. Tyme discloseth all thynges. Ibid. f. 38 There is no dyspleasure so great, no hatred so impotent, no sorowe so immoderate, but tyme asswageth it. 1616T. Draxe Bibliotheca Scholastica 205/2 Time reuealeth all things. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 29 In processe of time. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 176 Time, and Industry, produce every day new Knowledge. 1743Blair Grave 479 Think we, or think we not, Time hurries on With a resistless, unremitting Stream. 1748B. Franklin Adv. Yng. Tradesman Wks. 1799 II. 34 Remember that time is money. 1771C. Stuart Let. 15 Apr. in Publ. Miss. Hist. Soc. (1925) V. 50 Time only will shew how far those Informations have been well founded. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxx, The few gray locks which time had spared on his temples. 1821Byron Cain iii. i, The mind then hath capacity of time, And measures it by that which it beholds, Pleasing or painful. 1863C. Reade Hard Cash I. v. 164/2 She shall speak as distinctly to music as you do in conversation. Sampson... Time will show, madam. 1908Programme of Modernism 169 We have cast the seed in the furrow, Time will do the rest. 1913E. H. Porter Pollyanna xxiii. 234 The doctor had looked very grave..and had said that time alone could tell. 1957A. Huxley Lett. (1969) 839 It may turn out, of course, that the experts are right and that their play is better... Time will show. 1971D. Eden Afternoon Walk vii. 94 Time will tell, Mrs. Simpson. 1980J. Gardner Garden of Weapons iii. xi. 332 ‘Big Herbie gone over, has he?’ Fincher said that time would tell. 1983Sunday Tel. 20 Feb. 16/4 Whether this general mania for physical purification extends also to schoolgirls we are not told. Time alone will tell.
c. it's (only, etc.) a question (or matter) of time: said of an event that is thought certain to happen sooner or later.
1867E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest of England I. iv. 251 The definitive alliance of Rouen and Paris fixed the extinction..of the royalty of Laôn. It was a question of time. 1928E. O'Neill Strange Interlude iii. 94 I'm making good, all right..since I got married— and it's only a question of time. 1960S. Barstow Kind of Loving ii. viii. 273 It's just a question of time now, apparently. Making all the arrangements and all that. 1960D. Storey This Sporting Life ii. v. 236 Mrs. Hammond was in a coma. It seemed only a matter of time before she died. 1963‘J. le Carré’ Spy who came in from Cold viii. 81 It was only a matter of time before it packed up. 1982N.Y. Times 30 Sept. c 18/4 It's only a matter of time before something terrible happens.
d. to kill time: see kill v. 5; time hangs heav(il)y: see hang v. 15 b; to redeem the time: see redeem v. 8.
25. Personified as an aged man, bald, but having a forelock, and carrying a scythe and an hour-glass. Also called Father Time. to take Time by the forelock († by the top), to seize one's opportunity, to act promptly: see also forelock n.2 2.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xliv. (1555) C iv, Sodainly came Time in breuiacion Whose similitude, I shall anone expresse Aged he was, with a bearde doubtles Of swalowes feaders. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 71 The plaine bald pate of Father time himselfe. 1606― Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 145 Time hath, my Lord, a wallet at his backe, Wherein he puts almes for obliuion. 1594[see forelock n.2 2]. [ 1711Addison Spect. No. 63 ⁋4 Equipped (like the figure of Time) with an Hour-glass in one Hand, and a Scythe in the other.] 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 24 Time is ever silently turning over his pages. 18..Marsden What is Time? 32, I ask'd old Father Time himself at last; But in a moment he flew swiftly past!
26. In restricted sense, Duration conceived as beginning and ending with the present life or material universe; finite duration as distinct from eternity.
1388Wyclif Rev. x. 6 And the aungel..lifte vp his hond..and swoor bi hym that lyueth in to worldis of worldis..that time schal no more be [1526 Tindale, that there shulde be no lenger tyme; 1557 Geneva, that tyme should be no more; 1611, that there should be time no longer]. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 65 For time is it selfe but a time for a time, Forgotten ful soone, as the tune of a chime. 1635Swan Spec. M. i. §3 (1643) 15 All time compared with eternitie is but short time, yea indeed as no time. 1650Crashaw Death Herrys 36 Weak time shall be pour'd out Into eternity. 1745Scotch Transl. & Paraphr. xxxv. ix, He lov'd us from the first of Time, And loves us to the last. a1758Ramsay Some of Contents of Evergreen xi, A monument..Quhilk sall endure quhyle tymis telled out be days. 1803Heber Palestine, His voice amid the thunder's roar, His dreadful voice, that time should be no more. 1827Pollok Course T. x, Time gone, the righteous saved, the wicked damned, And God's eternal government approved. 1836H. Rogers J. Howe i. (1863) 8 Time, with him, derived all its importance from a reference to eternity. Mod. Entirely occupied with things of time and sense.
27. a. A system of measuring or reckoning the passage of time. standard time, a standard system of reckoning time adopted throughout a country or region, now based on the time zone in which it is situated; cf. zone time s.v. zone n. 9 a. With preceding place-name or possessive pronoun, the time as reckoned at the place referred to (normally differing from one's own). Cf. Greenwich time s.v. Greenwich, summer time 2, railway time.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., Relative, Apparent, or Vulgar Time, is the sensible and outward Measure of any Duration or Continuance estimated by Motion; and this is commonly us'd instead of true Time. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Astronomical time, is that taken purely from the motion of the heavenly bodies, without any other regard. Cvil time, is the former time accommodated to civil uses. 1764Maskelyne in Phil. Trans. LIV. 344 There are three different kinds of time used by astronomers, sidereal time, apparent solar time, and mean solar time. 1834Nat. Philos. III. Math. Geog. v. 16/1 (Useful Knowl. Soc.) A common sun-dial shows the hour of apparent time. Time-keepers or chronometers, common watches and clocks, are made to show the hour of mean time. 1840Minutes Board of G.W.R. in Railway Gaz. (1935) 30 Aug. (G.W.R. Suppl.) 7/2 Outside clock to be provided for each station so as to be seen by passing trains, in order to ensure punctuality. London time to be adopted at all stations. 1841G.W.R. Timetable in Ibid., London time is about 4 min. earlier than Reading time. 1847H. Booth Uniformity of Time 4 The managers [of the Post Office]..are quite aware of the advantages of one uniform system of time..; accordingly all their movements are regulated by ‘London Time’. 1847Minutes Railway Clearing House Committee 22 Sept. in Vistas in Astron. (1976) XX. 221 That it be recommended to each company to adopt Greenwich Time as soon as the Post Office permits them to do so. 1847, etc. [see railway time]. 1861[see Greenwich]. 1863Dickens in All Year Round 2 May 232/1 They don't keep ‘London time’ on a French railway. 1879S. Fleming Papers on Time-Reckoning 13 On a journey from Paris to Vienna..the standard time employed by the railways changes frequently. 1883N.Y. Times 19 Nov. 5/2 Standard time clocks were set to correspond to the new signals. 1893[see Greenwich]. 1917Whitaker's Almanack 90/1 Since the year 1883 the system of Standard Time by Zones has been gradually accepted, and now the majority of the countries of the world use as Standard Time the time of some meridian which differs from that of Greenwich by a multiple of 15°. 1924J. C. W. Reith in Radio Times 4 Jan. 42/3 We broadcast standard time. 1935Cook's Continental Time Table Mar. 102 Moscow time is two hours later than that of Greenwich. 1941Ann. Reg. 1940 126 A state of war existed..as from 9 a.m. (Eastern standard time). 1948A. N. Keith Three came Home xviii. 295 He telephones me from Australia... We speak at twelve midnight, my time. 1958‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose vi. 229, I would hand over to him at two in the morning, Honolulu time. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVIII. 415/1 All clocks in the United States were kept one hour ahead of standard time for the interval February 9, 1942–September 30, 1945... Since then, the time in a large part of Europe has been kept one hour ahead of standard zone time without any change during the summer. 1979P. Hill Washermen xxxiv. 81 [He] arrives at Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong, 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon our time.
b. Phrenol. (See quot.)
1860Mayne Expos. Lex., Time,..Phrenol., a Faculty..giving the power of judging of time, and of intervals in general.
IV. Phrases. (See also sense 18.)
* With another n.
28. time of day.
a. The hour or exact time as shown by the clock; hence, a point or stage in any course or period (somewhat colloq.).
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 1 Now Hal, what time of day is it Lad? 1634Ford P. Warbeck iii. i, How runs the time of day? Past ten, my lord. 1699Collier Answ. Stages Survey'd (1730) 382 The Favour of a Prince was not..unreputable at that Time of Day. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 17 Apr., I will not begin at this time of day to distress my tenants, because they..cannot make regular payments. 1862Gen. P. Thompson in Bradford Advertiser 15 Mar. 6/1 No man at this time of day pretends to maintain, that [etc.]. 1870J. Nicholson Idylls 25 A watch... At least 'twad ha'e tald him the time o' the day.
b. In salutations, as † good, fair time of day (obs.); also, to give one, or pass, the time of day (now dial. and colloq.), to greet, salute, exchange salutations: see also pass v. 52 c. not to give (a person) the time of day (colloq.), not to help or cooperate with (a person) at all, to be surly or mean towards.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 18 Good time of day vnto your Royall Grace. 1599― Hen. V, v. ii. 3 To our Sister Health and faire time of day. 1608― Per. iv. iii. 35. 1611 Cotgr., Saluër, to salute, greet,..giue the time of the day vnto. 1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 300 It shall be always allow'd to give the Time of the Day, but no New-Years-Gifts. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 489/2 The police..they're very friendly, they'll pass the time of day with me. 1864Let. to Editor, In Radnorshire a clergyman told me the other day that ‘there was not one in the parish who would not give him the time of day’. He meant, say ‘How do’ or ‘a fine day, Sir’. 1951N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 146 You don't even give me the time of day. You're the coldest man I've ever known. 1979A. Maling Koberg Link (1980) xxiii. 123 You've come to the wrong place. Paul Carmichael won't give me the time of day. 1982A. Price Old ‘Vengeful’ vii. 112 Lippy wouldn't have given Danny the time of day on a wet Sunday afternoon, not if he'd have come to him on bended knees.
c. colloq. or slang. The prevailing aspect of affairs; the state of the case; (to know) ‘what's what’; also, the right way of doing anything; the latest dodge or ‘wrinkle’; cf. to know what o'clock it is (clock n.1 3 d).
1667Poole Dial. betw. Protest. & Papist (1735) 144 No, Friend, it is not that time of Day. 1682Bunyan Holy War 11 If that be done, I know, quickly what time of day 'twill be with us. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxxix, Steady, Sir, steady! That's the time o' day! 1840― Barn. Rudge xxxviii, Hurrah for the Protestant religion! That's the time of day. 1897‘Ouida’ Massarenes xxvii, ‘She knows the time o' day’, said the other.
29. time of life, the age of a person, esp. middle age, the menopause.
1764Gray Candidate 10 At our time of life 'twould be silly, my dear. 1838Mrs. Gaskell Let. 17 Aug. (1966) 25 We agreed..that when people are come to yr time of life, there is no use having long engagements. 1971‘E. Ferrars’ Stranger & Afraid vi. 100 Whatever's wrong with a woman over forty, it seems to me, people say it's her Time of Life. 1981J. Mann Funeral Sites xxii. 132 Aidan has already threatened me with psychiatrists. He says it is ‘my time of life’.
30. time of memory: see quot. 1848. time out of mind (also, † out of memory), from a time or during a period beyond human memory; so time, † times (also for, from time) immemorial.
Also † without or † out of t. of mind, † within time of mind, † before t. of mind had, † during t. of no mind; † from t. whereof is no mind, or whereof the memory of man is not (to) the contrary; † during, from, out of, of t. that no (man's) mind is the contrary. See also mind n.1 2 f.
1407Waterf. Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 329 The nonpaying..during time of noo mynde. 1425Rolls of Parlt. IV. 267/2 Beyng Erles, of tyme yat no mynde is ye contrarie. 1480Coventry Leet Bk. 460 Ther haue ben Chirchewardens..tyme out of mynde electyff yerely. 1504Sel. Cas. Crt. Star Chamber (Selden) I. 211 Which all weyes withoute tyme of mynde hath be made. 1511Waterf. Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 325 Noo such custum here..oute of tyme of mynde. 1515Sel. Cas. Star Chamb. (Selden) II. 93 Bying and sellyng frely within tyme of mynd. 1516Ibid. 107 Liberties..vsed the tyme wherof mannys mynde is not to the contrarie. 1523Fitzherb. Surv. 7 Except it haue ben vsed tyme out of mynde. 1527Sel. Cas. Star Chamber (Selden) II. 16 So hath been oute of tyme of mynd. 1553in Leadam Court Requests (Selden) 196 Whether it grewe first..before tyme of mynde had. 1602[see immemorial]. 1622Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 89 He and his Predecessors had used time out of memory to repair such a Bridge, which was in decay. 1759Goldsm. Bee No. 1. ⁋11 This deformity..it had been the custom, time immemorial, to look upon as the greatest ornament of the human visage. 1760Impostors Detected iii. x. II. 103 The beavers having been in possession of it [the island] for time immemorial. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. viii. 281 The king's ordinary revenue is such, as has either subsisted time out of mind in the crown; or else has been granted by parliament. 1831–2Act 2 & 3 Will. IV, c. 71 §1 Time Immemorial, or Time whereof the Memory of Man runneth not to the contrary. 1848Wharton Law Lex. s.v. Memory, By Statute Westminster the First, 3 Edw. I., a.d. 1276, the time of memory was limited to the reign of Richard 1st, July 6th, 1189. 1887T. A. Trollope What I remember II. iii. 37 An ancient..goblet, which has belonged to the Musgraves time out of mind.
31. time and tide, an alliterative reduplication, in various senses of time; now only or mainly in proverbial phrases, as time and tide wait (stay) for no man, etc., superseding the earlier tide (tide nor time) tarrieth no man, etc. (see tide n. 13 b).
a1300Cursor M. 778 He wat wel wat tim or tide Þat ȝee hade eten o þis tre. c1550R. Bieston Bayte Fortune B j, And founden wast thou fyrst in euyll time and tyde. 1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 804 For their penaunce, according to the number, manner, time and tide giuen them by their ghostly father. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. ii. iv, The divell in his good time and tide forsake thee. 1639J. Clarke Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina 233 Time and tide tary on no man. 1796‘A. Barton’ Disappointment ii. iv. 50 Let's step into the state-room, you know the old saying, ‘Time and tide waits for no one’. 1935J. Masefield Box of Delights i. 21 Time and Tide and Buttered eggs wait for no man. 1979‘C. Aird’ Some die Eloquent x. 112 Time and tide and newspapers wait for no man. 1983Out of Town Dec. 19/2 Only two years ago it [sc. The National Trust] completed a major repair to the tiny and beautiful Mullion Harbour on the Lizard Peninsula. Time and tide wait for no man.
32. time after time, on many occasions, repeatedly.
1631Gouge God's Arrows iii. §6. 192 The like hath been verified time after time. 1881Jowett Thucyd. I. 42 Time after time we have warned you.
** With a following adv.
33. time about, alternately, in turns. (Formerly with their.) Chiefly Sc. or north.
1537Registr. Aberdon. (Maitland) I. 413 Sex of þe foir⁓said viccaris þair tyme about ilk Satirdaye..sall syng þe foirsaid anteme. a1670Spalding Troubles Chas. I (1850) I. 131 Becaus..diuerss of his freindis sould cum..thair tyme about, and attend his lordschipis seruice. 1756M. Calderwood in Coltness Collect. (Maitl.) 272 That a protestant emperor should be chosen time about with a popish. 1816Scott Antiq. xxv, Time about's fair play. 1828Craven Gloss. s.v., Times about, in turns, in rotation. 1859G. Wilson Gateway Knowl. (ed. 3) 39 Two paviours, driving in stones, bring down their mallets time about.
34. a. time (also times) and again, time and time again, with frequent recurrence; repeatedly, very often.
1864D. G. Mitchell Seven Stor. 49 Time and again I looked over the way. 1870[see again adv. 4 b]. 1878Mrs. H. Wood Pomeroy Ab. I. 85 Times and again she had wondered..who the recreant truant could be. 1887J. Hartley Halifax Orig. Illuminated Clock Almanack 48 He's browt us in a bit o' dinner time an' time again. 1897Hall Caine Christian iv. xiv, Time and again I thought John's love of you was near to madness. 1957E. Waugh Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold i. 2 He would dearly have liked to revise it, envying painters, who are allowed to return to the same theme time and time again. 1977It May 29/2 Time and time again we have been told of the desperate need to coordinate squatting activities.
b. times and often; times without number; many a time and oft: see 18.
35. time back, at some past time. Obs. or dial.
1834Landor Exam. Shaks. Wks. 1846 II. 298/1 The girl's mother, sir, was housemaid and sempstress in your own family, time back. 1887S. Chesh. Gloss., Time ago.., Time back.., some time ago.
36. time enough, soon enough, in time, sufficiently early.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 35 A man may stoupe tymes [C. xii. 197 tyme] ynow whan he shal tyne þe croune. 1470–85Malory Arthur vii. xi. 228 Thou shalt see hym tyme ynough. 1583T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iii. 117 b. 1669R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 458 That I may prepare time enough to fit my equipage for the journey. 1726Swift Stella's Birthday 7 To-morrow will be time enough To hear such mortifying stuff. 1864Mrs. Gatty Parables fr. Nat. Ser. iv. 27 Time enough to go into the depths when you have used up what is so much easier got at.
37. time off, a break from one's occupation, absence from work, school, service, etc. (cf. off adv. 4 d); also, remission of part of a prison sentence.
1930H. Crane Let. 30 Sept. (1965) 356 I'm taking ‘time off’ to answer in the hope that you'll write me more news. 1951‘J. Tey’ Daughter of Time i. 9 Benny would get time off for good behaviour. 1954Spectator 10 Dec. 736/2 Theorists who indulge the undemocratic vice of taking time off to think. 1977Whitaker's Almanack 1978 580/2 The Financial Times was not published because of a dispute between management and N.G.A. compositors over time-off.
38. time out, time-out, timeout (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
a. (Usu. as one word.) In various games: a deduction of playing time for a stoppage; a (usu. brief) break in play called by a coach, referee, or player.
1896Camp & Deland Football vi. 61 Time out, time taken out by the referee when play is not actually in progress. 1930Sun (Baltimore) 26 Dec. 11/7 The game..takes up about two and a quarter hours, when one allows for the intermission between halves and the innumerable ‘times out’. 1946[see Dolly Varden]. 1972J. Mosedale Football v. 61 We'd just stopped them on our one-yard line and called time-out. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. c 1/2 Clark's directive created a difference of opinion during a Tucson timeout in the opening game. 1981Times 11 Nov. 8/8 Experts said Korchnoi might postpone the fifteenth game, which is due on Thursday. Each man has used up two of the three timeouts allowed each player under the championship rules.
b. A break from one's occupation.
1939I. Baird Waste Heritage vi. 76 An' I took time out to tell you why we got to have those rules. 1962J. D. MacDonald Girl, Gold Watch, & Everything ix. 115 Everybody in such a damn hurry, sugar, it's good for them to take a little time out. 1978Chicago June 131/2 Sandwiching Sunday-morning Mass between an appearance on Meet the Press and a press conference back at the Ramada Inn was the only time-out Schtafly took in Houston.
*** With a governing preposition.
39. about time, approximately the right time; usu. ironical, long past the right time; (also with too) this should have happened much earlier, this is long overdue.
1920E. O'Neill Beyond Horizon ii. i. 67 It's about time you put a stop to his nonsense. 1931[see curve n. 2]. 1940W. Faulkner Hamlet iv. i. 285, I reckon it's about time to get dinner started. 1952M. R. Rinehart Swimming Pool xxvii. 240 ‘It's about time,’ he said, pushing aside the junket Jennie had served him. 1977A. Clarke Letter from Dead ix. 103 ‘Now you're talking,’ said Jill, ‘and about time too.’
40. against time, in competition with the passage of time; so as to finish one's task before the expiry of a certain period.
1835Dickens Sk. Boz (1836) 1st Ser. II. 178 The kennels seem to be doing matches against time. 1854,1868[see against prep. 12 d]. 1872Punch 10 Feb. 57/2 No member shall speak against time or his own convictions. 1883Swinburne in Encycl. Brit. XV. 556/2 A man who..was often..compelled to write against time for his living. 1887Ruskin Præterita II. 171 [To] walk against time up a regular slope of eight feet in the hundred is the most trying foot-work I know. 1933D. L. Sayers Hangman's Holiday 37 It must have been put in the wrong way round... You know, sir, we often have to work against time, and I suppose—but it's very careless. 1935‘E. Queen’ Adventures 86 What would you gentlemen expect a thief, working against time, to do under these circumstances? 1975Economist 1 Feb. 16 Sheikh Mujib's ‘second revolution’ last weekend was his personal answer to this race against time. 1982Washington Post 11 Nov. d 11 Whether it realizes it or not, the government of Japan is in a race against time.
41. at time(s, etc.
a. at times, † at (a) time (obs. rare), at one time and another, at various times, occasionally. Also at times and again.
1529More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 245/1 Our sauiour at tyme taught his apostles a part. 1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 319 You, or any man liuing, may be drunke at a time, man. 1611Bible Judg. xiii. 25 The Spirit of the Lord beganne to mooue him at times. 1779Mirror No. 39 ⁋9, I believe most men have, at times, wished to be..possessed of the power of moulding the world to their fancy. 1864Reader 634/3 Some blacks, at times and again, hovering over a few coals. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 46, I blame myself at times.
b. (at) one time with (and) another, during various detached periods; on various occasions.
1612R. Fenton Usury 37 If they could with their owne free stocke raise the like gaine one time with another. 1845Coit Puritanism 252 Winthrop..was governor, at one time with another, eleven years. 1884Mrs. Oliphant Sir Tom II. vi. 84 He had seen a good deal of her one time and another in his life.
c. at the same time, during the same period, at the same moment, not before or after. (Formerly without at.) Also used in introducing a reservation, explanation, or contrast, = ‘while saying this, nevertheless, however, yet, still’.
1526Tindale Matt. xviii. 1 The same tyme the disciples cam vnto Iesus, saying [etc.]. ― Acts xix. 23 The same tyme there arose no litell a do aboute that waye. 1563Pilkington Burn. Paules Ch. D ij b, Tertulian who lyued at the same time of this Pope. 1705Steele Tender Husb. Ded., At the same time I hope I make the Town no ill Compliment..in acknowledging that it has so far rais'd my Opinion [etc.]. 1749West tr. Pindar, Nem. Ode xi. Argt., Lest he should be too much puffed up with these Praises, he reminds him at the same Time of his Mortality. 1780Mirror No. 100 ⁋4 In two of Shakespeare's tragedies are introduced, at the same time, instances of counterfeit madness, and of real distraction. 1891‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley xv, Give them my best wishes. At the same time I must say I do not envy the girl.
42. between times, in the intervals between other actions; at intervals, between-whiles.
[1580,a1641Between-time n.: see between B. 4.] 1902E. Banks Newspaper Girl 159 She served me faithfully till the very last, packing her humble belongings in between times.
†43. by time, by times.
a. by time: in good time, early; = betime adv. Obs.
c1250,a1300[see betime adv. 1, 2]. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 368 We ne sain but soþ & sesen by time. c1425Cast. Persev. 413 in Macro Plays 89 Ȝa, on þi sowle þou schalt þynke al be tyme. 1565W. Allen in Fulke Confut. Purg. (1577) 142 Therfore deare brethern let vs turne and amende by time.
†b. by times: (a) in good time, early; = betimes adv.; (b) at various times; from time to time; at times, now and then. Obs.
c1314,c1380[see betimes adv. 1, 3]. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xi. (1885) 135 The kynge..hade be tymes, sithen he reigned vpon vs, livelod..nerehand to the value of þe vth parte off is Reaume. 1530Tindale Answ. More Wks. (1572) 251/1 Let therfore M. More and his company awake be tymes ere euer their sinne be ripe. 1657North's Plutarch (1676) 960 He slept in the day, and by times in the night. 1743in Egan Boxiana (1830) I. 49 Gentlemen are therefore desired to come by times. 1825Knapp & Baldw. Newgate Cal. IV. 177/1 The prisoner and I were on good terms by times. 1825Scott Betrothed xi, His nephew..was despatched by times every morning.
†c. by a time, at times, occasionally. Obs.
1721Kelly Prov. 26 A Horse with four Feet may snapper, by a time.
†44. for time, for the time being. Obs.
1464Rolls of Parlt. V. 510/2 Any persone or persones for tyme dwellyng..within the same Chapell. 1483Ibid. VI. 257/1 The Goodes and Chattells of the seid Provost and Fellawes for tyme founden upon the seid Lande.
45. from time to time.
a. At more or less regular intervals; now and again, occasionally; in quot. 1382, † at stated times, at definite intervals (obs.); in quot. c 1412 with ellipsis of from.
1382Wyclif Ezek. iv. 11 Fro tyme vn to tyme [1388 fro tyme til to tyme] thou shalt drynke it. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4189 Tyme to tyme he ȝaf hem Of his goode. 1423Acts Privy Council III. 88 Ye desire to be acertained fro tyme to tyme of oure prosperite and welfare. 1651Hobbes Leviathan iii. xl. 255 From thence proceeded from time to time the civill troubles..of the Nation. 1891Law Rep., Weekly Notes 136/1 The passage..was used only from time to time, and not continuously.
†b. Denoting succession of periods without intervals: Continuously, constantly, at all times.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. 14 Heaven is theirs, saieth David, that doe justly from tyme to tyme. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 519 Therefore nothing was more esteemed from time to time among the auncients, than the institution of youth, which Plato calleth Discipline.
46. in time, † in times.
a. in time. (a) In the course of time, sooner or later. (b) Soon or early enough, not too late. † (c) At a suitable time; seasonably; opposed to out of time, 49 a (a). Obs. rare. (d) Mus. In the correct rhythm: see 12 a.
(a)c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. xxxv. 103 Consolacion shal come to þe in tyme. 1594Willobie Avisa xlvii, I thinke in tyme she may be wonne. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xxiii. (1674) 24 Potent men..would certainly in time work their revenge. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xvi, The inner turnkey's office to begin wi', and the captainship in time.
(b)1467–8Rolls of Parlt. V. 623/1 Yf it were used in tyme. 1605Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 6 Come in time, haue Napkins enow about you. 1742Observ. Methodists 4 It will be too late to remedy it if not attended to in Time. 1834Picture of Liverpool 73 Letters put into any of the Receiving Houses before twelve o'clock will be in time for the early mails. 1912Eng. Hist. Rev. Jan. 44 Mansel soon returned..in time to assume the custody of the seal in September 1238.
(c)1377Langl. P. Pl. B. ix. 184 Whan ȝe haue wyued, bewar and worcheth in tyme. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 78 The worde of God is to be preached night and day, in time, and out of time, in season and out of season.
†b. in times. (a) At various times, on several different occasions. (b) in times..in times, sometimes..sometimes; at one time..at another.
1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 181 He that is a gouernoure in tymes he shall Spare, and in tymes vengeaunse take. 1612MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Payd vnto Thomas Williames in times in consederation of a challing of sartayn tythe wood.
c. in good time. (a) After the lapse of a suitable interval; in due course or process of time; at a proper time, when it seems good. (b) Soon or early; quickly. † (c) At the right or a seasonable moment; luckily. Obs. † (d) As an expression of ironical acquiescence, incredulity, amazement, or the like: To be sure!, indeed!, very well! (Cf. Fr. à la bonne heure.) Obs.
(a)c1440Lovelich Merlin 9985 Forth on his message he gan to gon, and dyde his message al in good tyme. 1622in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1848) II. 343 But God, in his good time, will amend all that is amiss. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. i, I shall be rich and splenetic, all in good time. 1822Scott Pirate ix, ‘The devil take him!’ said Mordaunt, in impatient surprise. ‘A' in gude time’, replied the jagger. 1883Gilmour Mongols xvii. 206 Every true-hearted follower shall, in good time, arrive at the desired goal.
(b)1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xxii. 60 [They] come home againe in good time without the knowledge..of their husbands. 1872Punch 19 Oct. 158/1 My aunt wants to be back in good time.
(c)1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 62 If it please you then to returne by him those parcels.., they will come now in very good time. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 65 Learne to iest in good time, there's a time for all things. 1639S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 7 This came in good time to keepe this poore family from necessity.
(d)1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 95 Sowing the kernels of it [an island]..bring forth more Islands... Why in good time. 1650Fuller Pisgah ii. vi. 149 There..even at this day, are shewed the ruines of those three tabernacles built according to Peters desire. In very good time no doubt! 1789Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France II. 50 Bonducci..calls him emulous of Milton, in good time! Ibid. 369 Making fat the objects of his partial tenderness with their best treasures—in good time!
d. what (why, etc.) in time.., ‘what (etc.) in the world..’ or ‘on earth..’. U.S. colloq.
1849J. T. Fields Let. 28 Feb. in R. W. Griswold Passages from Corr. (1898) 250 Why in Time don't you come our way and see the boys? 1883Harper's Mag. Jan. 212/1 He wondered what In time made 'em keep the cars so hot. 1904J. C. Lincoln Cap'n Eri vii. 125 What in time did you tell the Doctor that she was a relation of mine for?
47. not before (dial. afore) time, not soon enough, almost too late, long overdue.
1905in Eng. Dialect Dict. VI. 15/1 Ah see they're beginnin' ti mend rooad, an nat afoor time. 1955‘N. Shute’ Requiem for Wren v. 144 She got her clothes brush from her quarters and gave him a grooming with it, not before time. 1967Listener 26 Oct. 553/3 The Minister..is right: ‘the licensed victualler must now recognise that he has to provide a different kind of social life in his pub.’ It is not before time. 1972Observer 16 July 13/6 It all points to a wind of change blowing in the direction of the Ordinary shares..: and not before time either. 1974New Statesman 29 Nov. 766/1 It's..goodbye to cheap sugar—and perhaps not before time so far as the developing countries are concerned.
48. on time.
a. Punctually; also pred. punctual. Formerly chiefly U.S. colloq. See also 53. Also (with hyphen) attrib. (see on-1 4 b).
1821R. Cadell Let. 28 Nov. in Times Lit. Suppl. (1933) 7 Sept. 592/2 In order to effect this and on time we have resolved [etc.]. 1878Mrs. Stowe Poganuc P. xxiii. 209 His wife had always been on time, and on duty. 1890,1892[see on prep. 6 d]. 1893Scribner's Mag. June 781/2 My endeavors to get the family out of the house and into our pew on time. 1904Daily Chron. 5 Feb. 3/4 An Americanism here and there out of place (as..when the native dwarf, Cerberus..speaks of his mistress as being ‘on time’ in her return from a trance). 1965Economist 13 Feb. 675/1 Exact scheduling..and perfect coordination to assure on-time completion of the project. 1967R. J. Serling President's Plane is Missing (1968) i. 13 As my airline friends would say, I prefer on-time departures.
†b. on a time: see 14. Obs.
c. On credit. N. Amer.
1840Spirit of Times 15 Aug. 277/1 On time, the prices would at once be enhanced. 1873W. Mathews Getting on in World xix. 316 We need not expect that the practice of selling goods on time will ever be abandoned. 1925Sat. Even. Post 10 Oct. 133/1 It's like peddling lots on time, instead of selling and developing acreage. 1972J. M. Minifie Homesteader vi. 44 Everything was bought ‘on time’, hardly any transactions involved cash. 1979R. L. Simon Peking Duck xx. 144 On the table with Harvey's Sony tape recorder was a Nikon FT... I wondered if he had bought it all on time.
49. out of time.
a. advb. phr. † (a) At an inappropriate time; unseasonably. Obs. (b) After the prescribed period has elapsed; too late. See also 7 b (f). (c) Mus. See 12 a.
(a)1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xi. 291 Ȝe þat han wyues, beþ war worcheþ nat out of tyme. c1420Avow. Arth. xxiii, I, Kay, that thou knawes, That owte of tyme bostus and blawus. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 100 Doth not Tryacle as well poyson as helpe, if it be taken out of time? 1583[see 45 a (c)]. 1780Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 325, I went like a thing born out of time, and had the door almost shut in my face.
(b)1884Graham Hastings in Law Times Rep. L. 175/1 On that view of the case also they are out of time, as they took no steps in the matter until Oct. 1883. 1886Law Times LXXX. 241/2 Counsel for the respondent took a preliminary objection that the appeal was out of time.
b. adj. phr. Unseasonable: see out-of-time.
c. out of one's time, in an era unsympathetic to one's attitudes, aspirations, etc.; at the wrong season.
1950‘D. Divine’ King of Fassarai xvi. 125 Kellie was born out of his time. Last piece of history he could have flourished in was the Alaska rushes. 1958B. Behan Borstal Boy iii. 334 It was a little undersized goat born out of its time, and it was so small now that it wouldn't be any bigger than a lamb at Christmas when we put on the play. 1973R. Lewis Of Singular Purpose vi. 130 ‘Major Cornelius Van Rijk.’ He laughed shortly. ‘A man out of his time.’ 1976L. Henderson Major Enquiry xii. 78 You know, Mildred, you were born out of your time, you really belong to the naughty nineties.
50. over time, gradually, during a period of (past or future) time.
1966Rep. Comm. Inquiry Univ. Oxf. II. 46 The proportion from independent schools has fallen over time. 1973New Society 1 Nov. 258/3 Like the Foot-Steel proposals, these would be introduced over time.
51. to time.
†a. For all time, for ever. Obs.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 183 For þine gulte ishal nu to pine, rotie mote þu to time. 1607Shakes. Cor. v. iii. 127, I..that brought you forth this boy To keepe your name liuing to time.
†b. conj. phr. To the time that, until such time as, till. Also into, unto, till time. Obs.
a1352Minot Poems (1887) iv. 6 In þat land..Ordanis he still for to dwell, To time he think to fight. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. xvi. (Rolls) 246 Thei [images] wolden not at alle tymes ȝeue answeris..into tyme thei weren myche preied. c1470Henry Wallace iii. 432, I sall do nocht till tyme I tak my leyff. c1500Melusine 170, I shal neuer departe fro this land vnto tyme I be al dyscomfyted, or þat I haue put them to flyght. 1506Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (Camden) 18 A lytell cave, where they shytte him in, to tyme the Jewes had..determynyd what they wolde do with hym.
c. Within certain limits of time; so as to complete something by the end of a certain period.
1874E. B. de Fonblanque Life A. Fonblanque 40 A growing dislike to the act of ‘writing to time’.
52. with time, with the lapse of time, in the course of time; = in time (46 a (a)).
1578–9Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 82 Your Hienes sal have pruif with tyme of my following thair trew..service to your Grace. 1650Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty 104 When with time he is grown greater. Ibid. 272 Ambition increasing with time. Mod. With time it will come all right.
†53. without time, outside of or independent of time; for ever; eternal(ly). Obs.
a1400Prymer 6 Holi modir of god..þat we..moun stie up to þe seete of endeles blis, þere þou dwellist wiþ þi sone wiþ-outen tyme. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xliv. (Percy Soc.) 215 Withouten tyme is no erthly thynge, Nature, fortune, or yet dame Sapyence. 1587Golding De Mornay vi. 79 This Minde is without time and onely everlasting.
†54. In commercial phraseology, at, for, on time, at the rate which may be current on the day appointed for settling; cf. time-bargain. Obs.
1651J. Marius Adv. Conc. Bills Exch. 74 Goods sold one part for ready Mony, the rest at Time. 1727Swift What passed in London Wks. 1755 III. i. 188 There were many who called themselves Christians, who offered to buy for time. 1766W. Gordon Gen. Counting-h. 10 Debited..to the persons of whom they are bought, if on time.
**** With a verb.
55. (the) time was (hath been, shall be), inversion of there was (etc.) a time (when).
1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) I. 35 The tyme hath ben, nat longe before our dayes Whan [etc.]. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Gal. v. 18 The tyme was, when it was nedefull. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 5 The same Hierome elsewhere affirmeth, that he, the time was, had set forth the Translation of the Seuenty for his countrymen of Dalmatia. 1791Cowper Iliad i. 300 Time shall be, when Achilles shall be miss'd. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 251 Time was when we had a national style.
56. to keep time.
a. Mus. To mark the rhythm by movements of the hand or baton; to beat time; also, of a performer, to adhere to the correct rhythm and rate of the music, to keep pace with a measure or another performer, etc. Also fig.
1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. i. i, Slow, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears. 1662Playford Skill Mus. i. ix. (1674) 29 In keeping time your hand goes down at one half, and up at the next. 1687Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 85 They beat this Stuff with one hand two and two over against one another,..keeping time to this tune. 1817Byron Beppo lxiii, I can't well break it, But must keep time and tune like public singers. 1821Scott Kenilw. xviii, Thy reward shall be princely, if thou keep'st time and touch, and exceedest not the due proportion.
b. Of a timepiece: To register the passage of time correctly.
1899P. N. Hasluck Clock Jobber's Handbk. 61 The clock is ready..with every probability of going and keeping time for two or three years.
57. to make time (with): see make v.1 66.
V. Ellipt.
58. as conj. At or by the time that; as soon as; when. U.S. dial. and colloq.
1919E. O'Neill Moon of Caribbees 6 It was in New Guinea, time I was shipwrecked there. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling iv. 30 You'll likely not be so merry, time the day be done. Ibid. ix. 78 You git on to the sink-hole, son, and I'll foller time I've skinned out your 'coon hide. 1950R. Moore Candlemas Bay 13 Time Joel Walls had his net, one night he caught seven hogsids.
VI. Combinations.
59. a. Simple attrib. (a) ‘Of or pertaining to time’, as time-basis, time-behaviour, time-consciousness, time-co-ordinate, time-cycle, time-depth, time-dimension, time-direction, time-displacement, time-division, time-drop, time-evolution, time-factor, time-flow, time-foot, time-gap, time-guide, time-horizon, time-integral (integral B. 4 a), time-interval, time-mark, time-measure, time-ocean, time-order, time-pattern, time-period, time-perspective, time-plane, time-process, time-ratio, time-reference, time-relation, time-rhythm, time-schedule, time-scheme, time-sense, time-sequence, time-shift, time-slip, time-span, time-sphere, time-stream, time-succession, time-unit, time-variation, time-word; also, ‘of time as distinct from eternity’, as time-pattern, time-state, time-vesture, time-world; (b) ‘relating to, based upon, or indicating the amount of time occupied in some work or process’, as time-allowance, time-board, time-budget, time-chart, time-log (log n.1 8), time-march, time-prize, time-race, time-record, time-ticket; (c) in names of instruments, machines, or appliances used as time-signals or timed to operate at a given moment, as time-alarm (alarm n. 7), time-bomb (also fig. and attrib.), time-fuse, time-glass (cf. hour-glass), time-gun, time-measure, time-taper.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Time-alarm, an audible notice at the expiration of a set time.
a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 259 A mere day and a half was a crazy *time-allocation if only because the eight new clauses and fifty amendments..would take all the time available.
1883D. Kemp in Fortn. Rev. 1 Sept. 324 The yachts..were sailed in classes without *time-allowance.
1849J. A. Carlyle tr. Dante's Inferno p. xxxi, The whole *time-basis of his mighty song has become dim and cold.
1955Friedman & Weisskopf in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 153 We can then examine the *time behaviour of the outgoing parts of the wave packet as they pass a given radius. 1977Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXV. 765/2 Other types of lasers..can be controlled in either frequency or time-behaviour with the limits set only by the Uncertainty Principle.
1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 34 As the men come in past the time-office they take their piece or *time⁓boards from the rack, where each is placed against its proper number. 1895Times 7 Jan. 3/3 In the case of one large yard the men have come out on strike against the introduction of the ‘timeboard’ system.
1893Daily Tel. 9 Nov. 5/7 The engine of destruction was not a *time bomb. 1939Dylan Thomas Map of Love 21 Strike in the time-bomb town. 1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? vi. 128 Sammy Glick is a time bomb in my brain and it's going to go off. 1966N. Nicolson Diaries & Lett. H. Nicolson 275 Harold Nicolson had long been aware that a constitutional time-bomb was ticking beneath the throne. 1981‘M. Underwood’ Double Jeopardy xxiii. 181 His official diary could become a time bomb.
1948*Time-budget [see participant n. 1]. 1976P. R. White Planning for Public Transport ii. 46 Within a fixed time-budget, as work trips become longer, less time is available for shopping and recreational trips on weekdays.
1934Burlington Mag. Jan. 50/1 The author establishes his *time-chart, proving conclusively that the wide early influence..has no foundation in fact. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Jan. 33/2 Mr Sullivan..gives a much more orderly unfolding of the time-chart of discovery because he sticks to a straightforward chronology.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xv. 632 Th. Waitz is guilty of similar question-begging when he explains our *time-consciousness. 1963H. Lindenberger On Wordsworth's ‘Prelude’ vi. 199 The dissolution of the traditional literary genres and the increasing eccentricity of structure..have proved coincidental with..the development of time-consciousness among writers.
a1942B. Malinowski Sci. Theory of Culture (1944) iii. 20 In order..to make an historical process..significant in terms of explanation or analysis, it is..necessary to prove that we are, along the *time coördinate, linking up phenomena that are strictly comparable.
1903A. W. Patterson Schumann 7 That the mind should work in a regular *time-cycle, passing from one phase of sentiment to another with almost mechanical exactness. 1968Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 197/2 All disease, whether it be physical or emotional, appears to have its time-cycles.
1957P. Worsley Trumpet shall Sound 266 There is *time-depth to all social action. 1978Archivum Linguisticum IX. 76 The ultimate sources of the verbal root *es- can never be definitively known because of the huge time-depth involved here.
1877E. Caird Philos. Kant ii. x. 415 The schematism of the categories, the translation of them into *time-determinations is no mere idle play of the imagination.
1937Mind XLVI. 162 It is rather unfortunate that philosophers..should have paid little attention to the problem suggested by Minkowski's imaginary *time-dimensions. 1982M. Duke Flashpoint vii. 46 Shmuel let his mind slip into a new time-dimension. The near future looked good.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. ix. 283 With each prolongation of the scheme in the *time-direction, the summit of the curve of section would come further towards the end of the sentence. 1937Mind XLVI. 177 We may agree..to regard as the time-direction that in which the number of beats registered by the clock is increasing.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xi. 411 The cases he [sc. Wundt] describes are really cases of anachronistic perception, of subjective *time-displacement, to use his own term. 1901Time-displacement [see attentional a.].
1888J. Prestwich Geol. II. 3 The great *time-divisions are of almost universal application.
a1711Ken Preparatives Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 39 Minutes..On these *Time-drops eternal Joys depend.
1937R. A. Wilson Birth of Language ii. ii. 79 To one..who tries to work out a concrete philosophical view of the world..on the basis of a *time-evolution of all its forms from matter to man, the mechanistic hypothesis appears..to obscure the real problem of the beginnings of life.
1911Aeronaut. Jrnl. XV. 66 This switch has a ‘*time-factor’ approximating to that of the motor. 1976M. & G. Gordon Ordeal (1977) xxix. 198 He worked fast, conscious of the time factor.
1936J. Kantor Objective Psychol. Gram. xvii. 240 Grammarians mean by time the abstract points in a field-spread or an equally abstract *time-flow. 1956E. L. Mascall Christian Theol. & Natural Sci. iv. 134 This continuous activity of God is not to be thought of as if it were the insertion of the creatures into a time-flow which existed antecedently to them.
1883*Time-foot [see rhythm-foot s.v. rhythm n. 9 a].
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xi. 23 A fuse..placed and used like the ordinary simple *time fuse.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. ix. 237 Interruptions, *time-gaps during which the consciousness went out altogether to come into existence again at a later moment. 1978Early Music Gaz. Oct. 15/2 Leonhardt emphasises the large time-gap between the two books of the so-called ‘48’.
1804–6Syd. Smith Mor. Philos. (1850) 122 If you were to say that man was like a *time-glass,—that both must run out, and both render up their dust.
1875Zoologist X. 4587 He wished it to be a *time-guide to the appearance of butterflies and moths.
1878Stevenson Edinburgh 133 The *time-gun by which people set their watches.
1965H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy iii. 40 To make this concept meaningful, we need the idea of the *time horizon of a firm—the period over which the firm seeks to optimize its resource conversion efficiency. 1983Listener 8 Dec. 23/3 The time-horizon over which policy is formulated would become markedly biased towards the short-term.
1873J. C. Maxwell Electr. & Magn. II. 186 The *time-integral of a force is called the Impulse of the force. 1885Tait Rec. Adv. Phys. Sc. (ed. 3) 359 Momentum is the Time-Integral of Force because force is the rate of change of Momentum.
1871Cornh. Mag. July 58 The imagination is wholly unable either to conceive the duration of the *time-intervals..occupied by these wonderful processes. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xxv. 503 We had to ask whether the width of the time intervals had forced the pattern of responses and rendered suspect our method of calculating average times.
1868*Time-log [see log n.1 8]. 1891Labour Commission Gloss., Time-Log, the printed statement of times allowed for making garments in the tailoring trade, agreed upon between employers and employed.
1896Daily News 22 Dec. 6/6 Captain M―..was thrown from his horse yesterday near Fleet during a *time march.
1901Spectator 20 July 93/2 The continually recurring *time-marks of winter and summer.
1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. Pref. 3 Vehicles, Mills, *Time-measures, and other such minute things. 1911W. James Some Probl. Philos. xi. 179 Mr. Bertrand Russell..treats the Achilles-puzzle as if the difficulty lay only in seeing how the paths traversed by the two runners..should have the same time-measure if they be not themselves of the same length. 1943Mind LII. 61 From no sort of correlation between space-measures and time-measures can the obliteration of the ontological distinction between space and time be validly inferred.
1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 125 The old *time-ocean throws upon its shores just such rounded and polished results of the eternal turmoil.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. iii. 88 The whole succession is so rapid that perception seems to be retrospective, and the *time-order of events to be read off in memory rather than known at the moment. 1960Colston Research Soc. Symposium XII. 90 These paranormal cognitive powers, it seems, are indifferent in some degree to a physical time order, which of course raises frightful difficulties.
1946R. Blesh Shining Trumpets ii. 42 The..sequential *time-patterns of human or divine speech. 1968D. L. Clarke Analytical Archaeol. vi. 254 The time pattern regularities..in the trajectories and traditions of many quite different cultures.
1894Jrnl. Inst. Electrical Engineers XXIII. iii. 295 It was due to synchronism between the changes of load on the engines and the *time-period of the governor. 1953Scottish Jrnl. Theol. VI. 162 We believe that patterns and expanding purposes have been established through such time-periods. 1965Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics Spring 125 Seven languages..died out during the twenty-three year period ending in 1964... In this same time-period Coos was reduced to a single informant.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xv. 639 In hashish-intoxication there is a curious increase in the apparent *time-perspective. 1907Gentl. Mag. July 80 The Australian child is deficient not so much in imagination as in what may be called time-perspective.
1969Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles ii. 26 Lines indicating contemporaneity, so-called ‘*time-planes’, are normally presented diagrammatically as horizontal. 1977G. Clark World Prehist. (ed. 3) i. 24 Among the factors that caused peoples living on the same time-plane to retain or discard old forms while adopting new ones were..variations in the environment to which they had to adapt.
1897Outing (U.S.) Aug. 494/1 In 1890 Murphy was on scratch, and won the *time-prize.
1887A. Seth Hegelianism v. 170 The *time-process of the finite world is..the reality with which we are immediately acquainted. 1938E. Bevan Symbolism & Belief iv. 114 The time-process goes on throughout a universe of which our planet is, spatially, only an infinitesimal part.
1852Bateman Aquatic Notes an. 1844, P. M― [won the sculls] after a good ‘*time-race’ with R―.
1964W. S. Allen in D. Abercombie et al. Daniel Jones 3 Whereas in modern verse the rhythms are marked by ‘stress’, the classical rhythms were expressed solely in terms of *time-ratios. 1965Wireless World July 336/2 The same idea of time-ratio control can be used in regulated power supplies.
1887E. Moore (title) The *Time-References in the Divina Commedia, and their Bearing on the Assumed Date and Duration of the Vision.
1877E. Caird Philos. Kant ii. xi. 445 So far as sensations are represented as objects, they must be represented as events in time, and thus..considered as the real subjects of *time-relations like any other events. 1924R. M. Ogden tr. Koffka's Growth of Mind iii. 118 When a pianist..articulates a series of muscular innervations..fixed time-relations are determined in the series of sound-waves. 1962D. Nichols Echinoderms v. 71 There is no clear-cut evidence as to the origin of the echinoids. Time-relations do not allow their derivation from the Ophiocistioidea of the Silurian.
c1873–4*Time-rhythm [see beat n.1 5]. 1934J. J. Hogan Outl. Eng. Philol. iv. 29 Quantity or time-rhythm, consisting of the alternation of longer and shorter, not of stronger and weaker beats, is the rhythm of music.
1904Daily Chron. 31 Dec. 6/7 The reconstruction of an old [line], when the working moments must be snatched in the gaps of the *time-schedule, and the greater part of the work must be carried out during a period of four hours at dead of night.
1904Mind Oct. 468 The distribution of terms in our inner *time-scheme and space-scheme must be an exact copy of the distribution in real time and space of the real terms. 1978N. & Q. Feb. 55/1 Given Sterne's complicated time-scheme..such inconsistencies are surprisingly rare.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xv. 611 The units of duration..which the *time-sense is able to take in at a single stroke, are groups of a few seconds. 1899Syd. Soc. Lex., Time sense, the perception of the lapse of time.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xxviii. 671 The principle [of causality] expresses a demand for some deeper sort of inward connection between phenomena than their merely habitual *time-sequence seems to us to be. 1974G. Jenkins Bridge of Magpies viii. 135 What the time sequence of events was in regard to the two killings I'd never know.
1933F. M. Ford Let. 24 Aug. (1965) 222 To them, on account of the ‘*time-shift’..they [sc. novels] must be quite incomprehensible. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 18 July 414/2 This device, moreover, involves Mr. Young in irritating time-shifts and flash-backs and rather strained symbolism. 1978Cadogan & Craig Women & Children First xi. 268 The technical problems involved in the time-shift structure have simply failed to interest the author. 1983Listener 24 Nov. 37/2 The whole business of recording broadcasts and watching them later is known to the trade as ‘time-shift’.
1952P. Wentworth Brading Collection xii. 72 It brought a horrid feeling that there had been a kind of *time-slip—that they had been caught back again, she and Charles, to where they were three years ago. 1974Bookseller 10 Aug. 999/2 (Advt.), Four children, a disused railway line, a time-slip to an Edwardian scene—this enchanting fantasy [etc.]. 1981V. Glendinning Edith Sitwell xv. 195 Old Beau Nash, in her Bath, sees the past float by... This conceit, or technique of the time slip was not unique.
1933A. N. Whitehead Adventures of Ideas vi. 98 The recent shortening of the *time-span between notable changes in social customs is very obvious, if we examine history. 1979A. Storr Art of Psychotherapy ii. 11 Attention is difficult to sustain without a break beyond a time-span of forty-five to fifty minutes.
1928H. Poutsma Gram. Late Mod. Eng. (ed. 2) I. i. i. 43 Should, as a modal verb, is a preterite conditional, used irrespective of the *time-sphere of the predication. 1957R. W. Zandvoort Handbk. Eng. Gram. iv. 61 The perfect tense usually denotes an action that falls within the time-sphere of the present.
1937R. A. Wilson Birth of Lang. ii. i. 69 In his emergence to consciousness man rose above the *time-stream of sense. 1978P. G. Winslow Coppergold 125 At some point a man begins to feel out of place in the time stream.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xx. 147 There enters thus an element of *time-succession into our perception of ourselves which transforms the latter from an act of intuition to one of construction. 1922A. S. Eddington Theory of Relativity 18 It [sc. the relativity theory] fully recognizes that the chain of events in such a time-succession is a series of an entirely distinctive character from the succession of points along a line in space.
1810Southey Kehama viii. vii, Lo! the *time-taper's flame ascending slow.
1903R. Wallace Life iii. 52 This view of the ‘Sabbath’ as a sacrifice or *time-tax paid to the Deity.
1900H. Lawson Over Shiprails 123 The door opened. Arvie..took his *time-ticket, and hurried in.
1925J. Joly Surface-Hist. Earth v. 79 Our *time-units have become millions of years. 1968R. A. Lyttleton Mysteries Solar Syst. iv. 133 The time-unit of the abscissa is 50,000 years.
1881Maxwell Electr. & Magn. II. 223 The third term..depends on the *time-variation of the magnetic field.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. viii, Nature, which is the *Time-vesture of God, and reveals Him to the wise, hides Him from the foolish.
1933W. A. Russell Devel. Art of Lang. viii. 57 The thought of an action is intimately associated with the thought of time; so much so that some grammarians have called the verb the *Time-word. 1973Archivum Linguisticum IV. 5 The distinction between /bin/ and /dɔŋ/ is clear when we consider..the time words with which they collocate.
1843Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. vi, This *Time-world..plays and flickers in the grand still mirror of Eternity.
b. Objective and obj. gen., as time-beater, time-giver, time-measurer, time-observer, time-pleaser, time-saver, time-setter (1340), time-spender, time-waster (1661), etc.; time-allocation, time-beguiling (1592), time-bettering, time-breaking, time-consuming, time-deluding, time-devouring, time-economizing, time-measuring, time-noting, time-reckoning, time-saving, time-setting (1340), time-spending (1509), time-wasting, etc., adjs. and ns.;
c. instrumental, as time-authorized (a 1628), time-battered, time-bent, time-bewasted (1593), time-blackened, time-blanched, time-blurred, time-born, time-bound, time-cleft, time-conditioned, time-constrained, time-controlled, time-discoloured, time-dulled, time-eaten, time-gnawn, time-hallowed, time-limited, time-mellowed, time-obsessed (also absol.), time-rent, time-ridden, time-rusty, time-sanctioned, time-shaken, time-shrouded, time-stained, time-taught, time-tested, time-tormented, time-tried, time-wasted, time-wearied, time-white, time-withered, etc., adjs.;
d. in various relations with pples. and adjs., as time-based, time-centred, time-conscious, time-dead, time-dependent, time-enduring († time-during), time-faced, time-independent, time-kept, time-lasting, time-lost, time-marked, time-old, time-pressed, time-proof, time-served, time-varying adjs.
1951Parsons & Shils Toward General Theory of Action ii. iii. 143 A compulsive fixation on *time-allocation is a familiar phenomenon.
a1628F. Grevil Sidney xv. (1652) 199 Those *time⁓authorized assemblies.
1976P. R. White Planning for Public Transport vi. 123 The classification of *time-based, mileage-based and peak-vehicle-based costs..was adopted.
1729Savage Wanderer v. 44 *Time⁓batter'd Tow'rs frown awful in Decay.
1881Athenæum 5 Mar. 342/3 To feel at once the important difference between a conductor and a *time-beater.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 24 A sommers day..wasted in such *time-beguiling sport.
1863Pilgr. over Prairies II. 302 The grey and *timebent grandsire.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. lxxxii, Some fresher stampe of the *time bettering dayes.
1593― Rich. II, i. iii. 221 My oyle-dride Lampe, and *time-bewasted light.
1806T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. I. 178 *Time-blanched locks.
1916A. Huxley Burning Wheel 24 Some lover of an older day Has carved in *time-blurred lettering One word only:—‘Alas’.
1628Gaule Pract. The. Panegyr. 59 He *time-borne Sonne, got from eternitie.
1647Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. (1841) 132 When we are *time-bound, place-bound, or person-bound. 1924R. Graves Mock Beggar Hall 79 Neither eternal nor time-bound, Not certain, nor in change. 1978Dædalus Summer 168 Our ideas about childhood..are very much time-bound and culture-bound.
1601Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. ii. xxxvi. (1631) 109 After comes the torture of the *time-breaking wheele.
1964I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. i. 25 We can draw..upon the information available from the historian and the journalist to forge a *time-centered sociology. 1977P. Johnson Enemies of Society iii. 33 Against this background of a time-centred religion, there were also solid economic reasons why the fulcrum of progress would shift northwards across the Alps.
1800J. Hurdis Fav. Village 182 The *time-cleft arch Of ancient chantry.
1951R. A. Knox Stimuli i. 3 We force our *time-conditioned minds, once a year, into an artificial mood of expectancy.
1934A. Huxley Beyond Mexique Bay 218 What causes a people..to become as acutely *time-conscious as the priestly mathematicians of the Maya Old Empire? 1962J. Glenn in Into Orbit 43 All of us wear very exact watches... As you can see, we are extremely time-conscious during a mission.
1967A. Battersby Network Analysis (ed. 2) ix. 146 If we simply say that the project must be completed as quickly as possible, we have what is called a ‘*time constrained’ network. 1979Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Dec. 9/1 Colleges will be asked..to specify the learning objectives which they wish to assess by time-constrained examination.
1890Proc. Soc. for Psychical Research Dec. 654, I dropped my inquiries..for a period of about two years,..being over-freighted with *time-consuming duties. 1978R. Mitchison Life in Scotland viii. 161 There were a great many strenuous, unpleasant and time-consuming tasks to be done in any house.
1954Gloss. Highway Engin. Terms (B.S.I.) 58 *Time controlled traffic signals, signals in which the aspects are displayed for fixed periods which are determined by manual or time-clock adjustment of the controller. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 23 Feb. 100/2 Light for time-controlled poultry-house lighting. 1971P. C. Sylvester-Bradley in I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth ix. 124/1 Evolution is a time-controlled process.
1923L. Hughes in Crisis (N.Y.) Feb. 174/2 When Susanna Jones wears red, A queen from some *time-dead Egyptian night Walks once again.
a1617Hieron Wks. (1620) I. 10 Idle loyterers..or *time⁓deluding triflers.
1955O. Klein in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 113 We need a *time-dependent operator. 1974J. W. Drake in Carlile & Skehel Evolution in Microbial World 53 When E. coli is maintained in the chemostat, mutant accumulation is generation-dependent when growth is limited by glucose, but becomes time-dependent when growth is limited by amino acids.
1742Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1861) II. 198 Accustomed to the many hurries and *time-devouring accidents of this huge place.
1836H. Coleridge North. Worthies Introd. (1852) 17 To..run his eye along the *time⁓discoloured pages.
1922Joyce Ulysses 238 Stephen Dedalus watched..the lapidary's fingers prove a *timedulled chain.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John xi. 80 Not..that it is an uncouth or a *time duryng thyng to me.
1831Poe City in Sea i, *Time-eaten towers that tremble not.
1839Bailey Festus xi. (1852) 142 Now go I forth again..Upon my *time-enduring pilgrimage.
1936Dylan Thomas Twenty-five Poems 38 Now Jack my fathers let the *time-faced crook..Sneak down the stallion grave.
1613Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. (1626) 33 The King..was no *time⁓giuer vnto growing dangers.
1863Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 162 A gray, *time-gnawn, ponderous, shadowy structure.
1749W. Collins in R. Dodsley Collection of Poems IV. 65 Where..some *time-hallow'd pile, Or up-land fallows grey Reflect it's last cool gleam. 1959J. L. Austin Sense & Sensibilia (1962) vi. 61 His wholesale acceptance of the traditional, time-hallowed, and disastrous manner of expounding them [sc. arguments]. 1974Dawa Norbu Red Star over Tibet i. 30 The nomads were given a time-hallowed concoction.
1953Physical Rev. XCI. 740/1 Initial and final currents that are *time-independent with respect to different reference systems. 1970G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. ii. 14 The value of E′ has to be found from eq. (2.22)..which is a time-independent eigenvalue equation.
1934T. S. Eliot Rock i. 7, I journeyed to London, to the *timekept City.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 40 This *time⁓lasting World, and every while-being thing in it.
1947Partridge Usage & Abusage 51/1 Turn those sentences into to be equivalents: ‘To receive wounds is no fun’; ‘To become a casualty is no fun’; ‘To be wounded is no fun’: crisp, clear-cut, single-action, *time-limited connotations. 1977Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXV. 462/2 The price he pays for that time-limited monopoly is to give up any other advantages which the usual rights of exclusive ownership..might otherwise confer on him.
1930L. Hughes in Crisis (N.Y.) July 235/1 Subdued and *time lost are the drums.
1888E. Clodd Story Creation xi. 217 The rude..chant of the savage, *time-marked by yell and tamtam.
1864Hawthorne S. Felton (1883) 265 The *time-measurer of one whose mortal life he had cut off. 1904Edin. Rev. Jan. 200 The pendulum was..assigned its function as a time-measurer.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xiv. 557 The *time-measuring psychologists of recent days have tried their hand at this problem. 1959Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. LXXIV. 589/2 Music—or at least music with bar-lines—is precisely a time-measuring notation; it divides the time into equal intervals. 1974tr. Wertheim's Evolution & Revolution 363 The relatively rapid and consistent process of evolution—slow as it was in terms of time-measuring as applied by mankind.
1615R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 109 My *Time-noting lines ayme not at thee.
1647Trapp Comm. Luke xiv. 7 Ministers, though they may not be time-servers, yet they must be *time⁓observers.
1945Auden Coll. Poetry 12 These only feared another kind of Death To which the *time-obsessed are all condemned. 1951S. Spender World within World 137 No wonder that the literature of this period is time-obsessed, time-tormented, as though beaten with rods of restless days.
1861J. R. Lowell Washers of Shroud in Poems (1912) 476 The *time-old web of the implacable Three. 1922D. H. Lawrence England, my England 8 The wide, black, time-old chimney.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 160 The diu'll a Puritane that hee is, or any thing constantly but a *time⁓pleaser. 1607― Cor. iii. i. 45 Time-pleasers.
1886Hardy Mayor Casterbr. I. ix. 110 The bow-windows protruded like bastions, necessitating a pleasing chassez-déchassez movement to the *time-pressed pedestrian at every few yards.
1920A. S. Eddington Space, Time & Gravit. ii. 31 Observers with different motions use different space- and *time-reckoning. 1964L. MacNeice Astrol. iv. 112 The skies were observed..for the old time-reckoning reasons.
1806J. Grahame Birds Scot. 74 In some vacant niche, Or *time⁓rent crevice.
1936T. S. Eliot Burnt Norton in Coll. Poems 1909–35 188 A flicker Over the strained *time-ridden faces.
1639Fuller Holy War v. xxix. 279 How would a Herald sweat with scouring over these *time-rustie titles.
1838J. S. Mill in London & Westm. Rev. Aug. 469 The inconsistencies and absurdities of *time-sanctioned opinions and institutions.
1873Hamerton Intell. Life iv. i. (1876) 135 The best *time-savers.
1891A. James Diary 24 June (1965) 216 A restricted nature, not admirable or generous in its impulses, but highly practical and *time saving. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 15 Mar. 140/2 The light tractor with all the features for time-saving. 1977Listener 10 Nov. 607/2 The amounts that air travellers would be willing to pay for the time-savings that it [sc. Concorde] made possible. 1982R. Ludlum Parsifal Mosaic xiv. 215 It's basically an economic, time-saving decision.
1900Daily Express 13 June 5/2 All the men..at the bureaus for *time-served soldiers. 1960Times 18 Feb. 3/3 Only time-served engineers..will be considered. 1979Navy News Feb. 9/1 To say that every seaman is a good seaman by virtue of being a time-served man would be very much open to question.
1340Ayenb. 36 Þe *time-zettere ontrewe... Vor hire *time-zettinge hi destrueþ and makeþ beggeres þe knyȝtes.
1949Dylan Thomas in Botteghe Oscure IV. 399, I who hear..the notes on this *time-shaken Stone.
1794Coleridge Monody Death Chatterton ad fin., Sweet Harper of *time⁓shrouded Minstrelsy.
1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. i. 12 Those impertinent *time-spenders, the Priests.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xliv. (Percy Soc.) 215 Eyther hell or heaven, wythout lesynge, Alway he getteth in his *tyme spendynge.
1835W. C. Bryant in N.Y. Mirror 19 Sept. 92/1 How the *time-stained walls That earthquakes shook not from their poise, appear To shiver. 1904W. S. Kennedy Walt Whitman's Diary in Canada p. v, The transcribing of these out-door notes from the worn and time-stained fragments of paper.
1799Campbell Pleas. Hope ii. 224 The *time-taught spirit, pensive not severe.
1930Times Lit. Suppl. 10 July 566/3 The kind of faith which cheerfully believes things about the East which *time-tested experience has proved to be untrue. 1977Daily Express 29 Jan. 7/1, I will defend..the right of the ingenious and time-tested Mr. [Peter] Hall to spend my taxes any way his fancy takes him.
1947Auden Age of Anxiety v. 125 Transpose our plight like a poignant theme Into twenty tongues, *time-tormented But His People still. 1951Time-tormented [see time-obsessed adj. above].
1870Ruskin Lect. Art i. (1875) 28 Faithful servant of *time-tried principles.
1962W. B. Thompson Introd. Plasma Physics vii. 151 A particle going past a point target at a distance l produces a *time-varying field at the target. 1981Word 1980 XXXI. 172 The time-varying spectral pattern of the processed stimuli differed radically from that of the natural speech.
1814Scott Ld. of Isles i. Introd. iv, Through fields *time-wasted, on sad inquest bound.
1661Baxter Last Work Believer Wks. (1846) 253 She was a stranger to pastimes, and no companion for *time-wasters. 1930J. Bailey Let. 5 Apr. (1935) 311 All these new inventions are time wasters for people like you and me. 1980M. Drabble Middle Ground 118 Sally was a moaner and a timewaster.
1845Geo. Eliot Let. c 16 Apr. (1954) I. 187, I am..full of hope that..I shall be able to ward off these *time-wasting visitations. 1853C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe I. xv. 258 Abstaining from the time-wasting that might have tempted him if he had had plenty of money to spend. 1976S. R. Simpson Land Law & Registration viii. 144 Sporadic survey is expensive and time-wasting. 1981‘J. Ross’ Dark Blue & Dangerous x. 58 The time-wasting had gone on long enough.
1741–2Gray Agrippina 139 The slacken'd sinews of *time-wearied age.
c1611Chapman Iliad viii. 454 To warn the youth, yet short of war, and *time-white fathers.
60. a. Special combs.: time-and-motion, used attrib. to designate a study, person, etc., concerned with the measurement of the efficiency of an industrial or other operation; time-attack (Fencing) = time-thrust; time-average Physics and Math., an average evaluated over a period of time; hence time-averaged a.; time-barred a., disqualified or invalid by reasons of arriving or being presented after the expiry of a statutory time-limit; time-bill, (a) a time-table of trains, etc.; (b) a record kept by the guard of a train of the time it leaves each station; time-book, (a) a book in which an entry is made of the time worked by employees; (b) a chronicle (cf. Ger. zeitbuch); (c) = time-bill (a); time-candle (see quot.); time capsule, a container used to store for posterity a selection of objects thought to be representative of life at a particular time; also fig.; time-card, (a) a card on which a record is kept of time worked; (b) a card time-table; time-catch, in a photographic camera, a catch which retains the shutter for a fixed time; time-catcher, in Fencing, one who ‘takes the time’: see 21; time-change, (a) change that takes place with the passage of time; (b) the difference in standard time between widely separated localities, as experienced by travellers; time-charter (see quot. 1891); v. trans., to hire (a vessel) under a time-charter agreement; time check, (a) Canad., a chit from a foreman stating the number of hours for which a man is due to be paid; (b) the act of ascertaining or stating the exact time; time-clause Gram., an adverbial clause of time, a temporal clause; time clock, (a) a clock with a mechanism for recording the time on time-cards pressed into it; (b) a clock which can be set to switch an appliance on or off at specified times; time-constant Electr. the time taken by an exponentially varying quantity to change by a factor 1–1/e (approximately 0.6321), regarded as a parameter of the system in which the variation occurs; more widely, a time taken as representative of the speed of response of a system; time-course Naut., (a) a ship's run, as in a fog, calculated by the vessel's speed, the time occupied, and the direction; (b) the period of time in which something happens, the length of time taken; time-curve (see quot.); time-delay = time-lag; used chiefly attrib. of a mechanism, system, etc., into the operation of which a time-lag has been deliberately introduced; time deposit (orig. U.S.), a sum placed in a bank at interest and not to be drawn before a set maturity date; time derivative Physics and Math., a derivative of a variable with respect to time; time-detector, a clock (stationary at a point) or watch (carried by the watchman) having additional mechanism, operated by the watchman, to show the times at which he was at certain points of his round (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877): cf. tell-tale 2 g; also called time-watch; time difference, (a) the difference between the lengths of time taken by different operations or processes; (b) the difference in standard time between widely separated localities; time differential, (a) = time difference (b) above; (b) the difference in the length of time taken by a process in different places or at different stages; time dilatation or dilation Physics, the apparent slowing down of the passage of time in a frame of reference moving relative to the observer, a relativistic effect analogous to the increase in mass and the Lorentz contraction of length; time-disc, an instrument used in conjuction with the kymograph for investigating the time-sense; time-distance, used attrib. of the relation (esp. as expressed in graphs) between time and distance; time division Telecommunication, allocation of transmission time to each of a number of signals in quick rotation, so that all can be transmitted over the same channel if the sampling rate is sufficiently high; usu. attrib.; time-element, (a) time conceived as the natural element of temporal beings; (b) time as a factor to be taken into consideration; time-expired a., (a) whose term of engagement has expired; also of convicts: whose term of sentence has expired; (b) of perishable goods: of which the term of safe storage (before sale or use) has expired; time-exposure Photogr., exposure for a regulated time, as distinguished from instantaneous exposure; so time-exposed a.; † time-fellow, a contemporary; time-frame, a limited and established period of time during which an event, etc., took place or is planned to take place; a schedule; time-globe, a terrestrial globe rotated once in twenty-four hours by a clock-movement, and encircled at the equator by a stationary graduated zone, showing the local time at any meridian; time-lag, the length of time separating two correlated physical phenomena; time lapse, lapse of time; spec. (usu. with hyphen) attrib., designating or pertaining to a technique of taking a sequence of photographs at set intervals to record changes that take place slowly over time; time-line, (a) pl. a certificate of apprenticeship (see line n.2 23 f); (b) an undulating line indicating small fractions of a second, by which the time or rate of some process may be measured; (c) a schedule, a deadline; time-lock, a lock with clockwork attachment which prevents its being unlocked until a set time; time machine, an imaginary machine capable of transporting a person backwards or forwards in time; time-marker, (a) an automatic device in a cab, etc., which registers the time it is in use, with the fare payable; (b) Electr. (see quot. 1902); time-notice, a notice given a definite time before; time-of-flight a. Physics, designating techniques and apparatus that depend on the time taken by particles to traverse a set distance, e.g. in the separation of ions according to their mass; time-payment, (a) payment by instalments; (b) payment on the basis of time worked; time pencil, a type of delayed-action firing-switch or detonator for setting off explosive devices; time-policy (see quot. 1848); time-rate, (a) rate in time; (b) rate of payment on the basis of time worked; time-recorder, an apparatus which records the time of an act or event; time-release a. = slow-release adj. (b) s.v. slow a. 16 d; time-resolved a. Chem. and Physics, produced by or pertaining to a spectroscopic technique in which the spectrum is obtained at known times after excitation; time reversal Physics, a transformation in which the passage of time (and so all velocities) is imagined to be reversed; time reversal invariance, invariance of laws of nature under this transformation, so that all processes allowed by them are also allowable when all motions in them are reversed; so time-reverse v. trans., to subject to time reversal; time-reversed a.; time-sampling, the collection of data or observation of events at given times or intervals or within given periods of time; time-scale, (the relative length of) the period of time in which a sequence of events takes place, the successive stages of a process, operation, etc.; a representation or exposition of the stages of such a sequence, etc.; time-series, (a) the sequence of events which constitutes or is measured by time; (b) a series of values of some quantity obtained at successive times (often with equal intervals between them); time-series analysis, the statistical analysis of such series; time-sheet, a time-table (on a sheet); the paper on which are entered the names of workers and the hours worked by them; time-shutter, in the photographic camera, a shutter for time-exposures; time-sight Naut., an observation of the altitude of the sun or a star for the purpose of ascertaining the time and, hence, the longitude (Cent. Dict.); time-signal, (a) a visible or audible signal made at an observatory, etc., to announce the exact time, e.g. the fall of a time-ball, or firing of a time-gun; (b) a signal transmitted to indicate the exact time of day, esp. that broadcast by the BBC at certain hours; time-signature Mus., a sign placed at the beginning of a piece of music, or where the time changes, to show the measure or rhythm; rhythmical signature; time slice, (a) a short period in the continuum of time; (b) Computers, each of the short intervals of time during which a computer or its central processor deals uninterruptedly with one user or program, before switching to another; so time-slicing vbl. n., the division of processor running time into a succession of short intervals that are allocated in turn to different users or programs; time slot, (a) a portion of time allocated to a purpose or person, esp. to an individual broadcast programme; (b) Computers, = time slice (b) above; times table, a multiplication table; cf. sense 19 above; time-stamp, a mechanical device for stamping letters, tickets, etc., with the date and time of receipt; hence as v. trans.; time-stamped ppl. a.; time step, an even-timed basic tap-dancing step; time study, a time-and-motion study; the close observation of an industrial or other process with a view to time-saving alterations in procedure; also attrib.; time switch, a switch that acts automatically at a set time; time-taker, † (a) = time-server 1; (b) one who takes a note of the time occupied in any work or course; time-taking a., that takes time, leisurely, slow; time term, a term of an equation in which time is the main variable; time-thrust (Fencing), an offensive-defensive counter-stroke made within the time of the adversary's movement of attack, and preventing its completion; time train = going train s.v. train n.1 15; time travel = time-travelling vbl. n. below; also (hyphened) as v. intr., time-traveller, one who practises time-travelling; time-travelling vbl. n., the imagined activity of travelling into the past or future, hypothetical movement through time; also fig. and as ppl. a. (also = ‘extending through time’); time trial, a test of individual speed over a set distance, a race in which competitors are separately timed; time-value Mus., the relative duration of a note; time wage (see quot. 1892); time-waiter, one who awaits a favourable turn of events; cf. tide-waiter 2; time warp Science Fiction, a distortion of space-time that is conceived as causing or enabling a person to remain stationary in time or to travel backwards or forwards in time; also (with hyphen) as v. trans., to transport in a time warp; time-watch = time-detector; timewise adv., with regard to time; time-work, work which is paid for on the basis of the time occupied; distinguished from piece-work; so time-worker; time-zone, any one of the twenty-four divisions of the surface of the globe (each bounded by two meridian lines), within each of which the standard time adopted is the mean solar time of the meridian distant from Greenwich a number of complete hours. See also time-ball, -bargain, -worn, etc.
1932C. Reynolds Production Planning ix. 87 (heading) *Time and motion studies. 1959Listener 5 Nov. 762/2 That sinister figure, the man with the stop-watch, the time-and-motion expert, disliked by union men the world over. 1966Punch 20 July 127/1 Time-and-motion study techniques, applied to American office workers, enable employers to reorganise office procedures and streamline routine chores. 1973M. Woodhouse Blue Bone vi. 61 We have decided to divide the job according to the best work⁓study, time-and-motion principles. 1980Daily Tel. 11 Sept. 29 (Advt.), Knowledge of..time and motion studies is very advantageous.
1889Dunn Fencing 62 ‘*Time’ attacks, whereby, having anticipated in what line your opponent's attack will be delivered, you intercept his blade as he gives in his attack.
1875Encycl. Brit. III. 39/1 In a material system in a state of stationary motion the *time-average of the kinetic energy is equal to the time-average of the virial. 1914Phil. Mag. XXVIII. 826 The ratios have been calculated using the time-average values. 1965Phillips & Williams Inorg. Chem. I. i. 11 Time-average potential and kinetic energies.
1946*Time-averaged [see space-averaged adj. s.v. space n.1 20].
1957Financial Times 23 Mar. 4/3, I would appreciate advice..whether such a claim is now *time-barred or not. 1971E. Afr. Standard (Nairobi) 10 Apr. 1/3 The fourth car in the Datsun 240Z team..was time-barred at Korogwe. 1978Observer 4 June 16/6 Employees must make their claim..within six months of ceasing work. Failure to do this results in employees being ‘time-barred’.
1847(July 1) East. Counties & E. Union Railways (Railw. Mag. Jan. 1910. 46) *Time bills of a prior date are not correct. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Time-bill, a time-table of the arrivals and departures of trains, omnibuses, steamers, &c. 1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 658 To ascertain the precise moment that the train clears certain stations, that he [the guard] may..chronicle the same in his time⁓bill. 1898Daily News 19 Oct. 3/2 She looked down the timebill for a place a long way off, and seeing Blackpool and the distance it was off took a ticket for there.
1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xiii. (1858) 271, I still retained the *time-book in my master's behalf. 1867tr. Ewald's Hist. Israel 92 Like a true time-book (or chronicle) terminated with the description of the most recent great deeds.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Time-candle, one in which the size and quality of the material and the wick are so regulated that a certain length will burn in a given time.
1938N.Y. Times 19 Aug. 21 A record of the world of the present era..will be buried on the site of the World's Fair in the hope that it will give to historians 5,000 years hence a picture of the middle twentieth century... The record will be contained in a ‘*time capsule’, a specially devised container of metallic alloy of high corrosion resistance. 1947Campbell & Robinson Skeleton Key to ‘Finnegans Wake’ 8 The Wake..is a huge time-capsule, a complete and permanent record of our age. 1965Christian Century 27 Oct. 1313/1 With the cooperation of a hospital physician, the hospital administrator, a funeral director and a local commercial firm which happened to be building ‘time capsules’ or cryogenic (low temperature) storage units..preparations were made for this pioneering effort. 1973Art Internat. Mar. 56/1 This image of Venice, as a waterlogged time capsule, is very much the creation of outsiders. 1982Daily Tel. 6 July 12/4 George Howard, the BBC chairman, is..asking around for corporation ‘artefacts’ to be sealed into an age-proof time capsule, so future generations may be able to discover the wonder of our broadcasting services.
1891Cent. Dict., *Time-card. 1898Engineering Mag. XVI. 41 Each workman perforates a five-minute time-card for each job on which he is employed, simply piercing the card at the five-minute points most nearly representing his times of beginning and ending.
1890Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 383 The *time catch is on the other side, and by means of two slots and pins, is arranged so that it cannot fall backwards or forwards when not in use.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Binding, The great objection made by some people, particularly those *time-catchers, against the frequent use of binding, is [etc.].
1937Blunden Elegy 31 To haunt and cling To this one ground, whatever closed Of strange power, or *time-change. 1941Mind L. 182 A person as a ‘self’ exhibits beside its individuality and its identity in time-change the peculiar character of self-assertion through vicissitudes. 1969N. Denny tr. Veraldi's Spies of Good Intent xi. 177 I'm suffering from the time-change. With me it's three in the morning. 1976‘M. Delving’ China Expert i. 9 I'd been in Honolulu two days before, and when I got back to New York I'd forgotten about the time change. I lost eight hours.
1891Labour Commission Gloss., *Time-charter, an agreement under which the owner hires his vessel for a stipulated monthly payment, generally in advance, in which case the charterer loads and discharges the vessel. 1963Times 10 June 21/5 The companion for our new ship will be time-chartered..until we decide about building another. 1974Information Handbk. 1974–5 (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 100 Ships time-chartered by Shell companies total 235 of 20·6 million dwt.
1911Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 26 Apr. 2/4 He cashed a *time check after working a short time on a log drive. 1937Printer's Ink Monthly May 45/1 Time check, synchronizing the time pieces of all concerned in a broadcast. 1968M. Woodhouse Rock Baby xv. 149, I..got a time-check to correct my watch.
1887C. B. George 40 Yrs. on Rail 56 [He] pulled a wire leading to a *time-clock. 1930Engineering 1 Aug. 130/1 Special terms for night service has encouraged the use of heat-storage ovens... In France, on weekdays, the luncheon interval lasts two hours, and that gives a pause in the factory power consumption which, with the aid of time-clocks, allows of a valuable heat storage period. 1943Time-clock [see punch v.1 3 d]. 1961Listener 19 Oct. 629/3 Running costs also tend to be higher but a judicious use of time clocks can keep these in check. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 4 July 6-c/4, I am not the nine-to-five cat—couldn't punch a time clock if my life depended on it.
1869Ld. Rayleigh in Phil. Mag. XXXVIII. 4 There is for every conducting circuit a certain *time-constant which determines the rapidity of the rise or fall of currents, and which is proportional to the self-induction and conductivity of the circuit. Thus, to use Maxwell's notation,..the time-constant is L/R = τ. 1892O. Lodge Lightning Conductors xxvi. 297 A column shows the time taken for the current amplitude to decay to one-millionth of its initial value, i.e., 14 times what is ordinarily called the ‘time constant’. 1895Funk's Stand. Dict., Time-constant. 1902Sloane Stand. Electr. Dict., Time Constant. (a) If..we divide the inductance in henries by the resistance in ohms, the ratio gives the time-constant of the circuit, or it expresses the time which it will take for the current to reach 0·63 of its final value. (b) In a static condenser the time required for the charge to fall to one 2·7183th part of its original value. 1943Electronic Engin. XV. 346 The amplifier..is a standard three-stage..circuit. The time constant of the stages is 6 seconds. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio v. 94 The PPM is a special type of voltmeter... It has a rapid rise characteristic (the BBC version has a time constant of 2·5 milliseconds; this gives 80% of full deflection in 4 milliseconds). 1977Nature 1 Sept. 11/1 The radiative time constant is the time taken for a mass of air to warm up or cool by radiating in the infrared portion of the spectrum.
1971Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. Jan. 38 The *time course for recovery from these effects was found to be slower for the subfusional stimulation effect than the suprafusional stimulation effect. 1977J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants 678 The way in which the time course of the risk of death is related to the time course of producing offspring.
1909Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Time-curve, a curve so plotted that one of its coördinates represents time, or periods of time.
1959H. Barnes Oceanography & Marine Biol. 183 Instead of using a bottom release to start the camera, a *time-delay mechanism, set for the depth to which it is intended to work, is used. 1963Times 15 Feb. 7/6 The levels from which different frequencies are reflected are thus obtained from the time-delay between outgoing pulse and received echo. 1978Tucson Mag. Dec. 30/1 A digital time-delay system..that brings ‘concert hall sound’ into the living room. By delaying the impulse coming out of the back speakers..by something under one one-thousandth of a second, this tiny wonder simulates the spatial quality of sound present in large auditoriums.
1851C. Cist Sk. Cincinnati in 1851 90 Their policy of taking *time deposits and allowing eight and ten per cent interest..[has] attracted public attention. 1930J. M. Keynes Treatise on Money II. xxiii. 7 In the United States the law requires that the amounts of Time Deposits and Demand Deposits respectively shall be separately published. 1982Bank of England Q. Bull. Dec. 519/1 Sight deposits grew by 28% and time deposits by 30%.
1956Nature 11 Feb. 267/1 The passage of electrolytic current through the first coil induces its *time-derivative in the second one.
1909E. B. Titchener Text-Bk. Psychol. I. 134 In ordinary life, these *time-differences escape notice, so that we may regard two tastes as occurring together when really they occur in succession. 1953[see capitalize v. 1 c]. 1981‘W. Haggard’ Money Men iii. 38 Seven-thirty from Schiphol and an hour for the flight. Time difference at the moment one hour.
1968J. Sangster Touchfeather xi. 112 With the *time differential on my side, I was back in Los Angeles by three-thirty p.m. local time. 1974tr. Wertheim's Evolution & Revolution i. 33 The differential in space-time between more or less parallel processes in the past..might..imply time differentials in future developments. 1980L. St. Clair Obsessions xvii. 291 Due to the time differential between New York and Paris, which he had left at sundown, he arrived at La Guardia shortly after 10 p.m.
1973*Time dilatation [see relativity 2].
1934R. C. Tolman Relativity, Thermodynamics & Cosmology ii. 24 This *time dilation and the conclusions as to the setting of clocks..are to be regarded except for experimental difficulties as an entirely verifiable mutual property of systems of clocks in relative motion. 1968Guardian 28 Dec. 9 After two years the spacecraft's velocity would be such for ‘time dilation’ to have an effect. In other words time would be slowing down on board the craft and, to those on board, a single lifetime would be longer than for those on earth. 1981Sci. Amer. Feb. 108/1 The relativistic effect of time dilation prolongs the life of pions and kaons that are particularly energetic.
1901E. B. Titchener Exper. Psychol. I. x. 338 The most useful appliance for investigation is, probably, Meumann's ‘time-sense’ apparatus, consisting of Baltzar kymograph, *time-disc, set of contacts, and sound⁓hammers.
1936*Time-distance [see P III 3]. 1965Math. in Biol. & Med. (Med. Res. Council) v. 230 The question whether short distances are correlated with short times is represented by the third degree of freedom, the interaction of the table, and for this reason this component can be referred to as a space-time, or time-distance, interaction.
1905*Time-division [see Skiddavian a.]. 1938Proc. IRE XXVI. 56 Many proposals have been offered for multiplexing. These divide naturally into two major categories: (1) frequency division and (2) time division. Ibid. 57 The major disadvantage of time-division multiplex..is that provision must always be made to insure accurate timing of the channel assignments. 1947[see quantization b]. 1975D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. xxii. 35 In time-division multiplexing message information from many channels is sampled briefly in time sequence.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. viii, Pierce through the *Time-element, glance into the Eternal. 1936J. M. Keynes Gen. Theory Employment xxii. 317 The explanation of the time-element in the trade cycle. 1979D. Anthony Long Hard Cure ix. 77 The time element fits... You heard the shot about nine forty-five. That gave him half an hour.
1885Sir H. Green in Pall Mall G. 14 Feb. 2/1 *Time-expired soldiers in India will not, as a rule, re-enter the ranks. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 21 May 402/4 The kindly Egyptian prince who..helped time-expired convicts to find honest employment. 1972Times 17 Oct. 14/7 Return of time-expired stock like sausages and yoghurt. 1973[see hot-house, hothouse n. 3 b]. 1974Ciba Symposium XX. 253 Those of us who have used ‘time-expired’ human blood from blood banks in culture media have frequently found that some batches are highly toxic to trypanosomes.
1889Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 79 To level your camera when taking *time-exposed pictures and hence get straight lines.
1893J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (1907) 18 A tripod stand will be required..when ‘*time’ exposures are given. 1899A. B. Lloyd in Daily News 9 Jan. 2/3, I couldn't give a time exposure, as the pigmies would not stand still.
1577Harrison England i. xviii. (1880) 131 My Synchroni or *time fellows can reape at this present great commoditie in a little roome. 1638Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. vi. §23. 340 The disinterested time-fellowes or immediate Successors of Liberius.
1964Sunday Times 5 July 14/4 All three considerations argue for abandoning the artificial *time-frame which the Johnson Administration has now set. 1969Ottawa Commons Debates 24 July 11573/1 In a timeframe of less than seven decades in length,..man has ceased to remain earthbound. 1976‘R. B. Dominic’ Murder out of Commission xx. 179 Somebody had..shot him. The time frame was pretty well established: between twelve o'clock, when he had phoned the desk, the twelve fifteen, when Ben and Tony arrived. 1980D. Bloodworth Trapdoor xii. 71 It's right outside our brief, and our time⁓frame would not allow it. 1983Listener 16 June 37/2 The time-frame is one intense, meandering weekend.
1862Cat. Internat. Exhib., Brit. ii. No. 5516 *Time globe, planetary clock.
1892O. J. Lodge Lightning Conductors vii. 48 Lord Rayleigh..thinks these induced peripheral currents competent to explain magnetic *time-lag in every case. 1939John o' London's 7 Apr. 46/2 There is often a necessary time-lag between discovery and application. 1979Bull. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. Mar. 40 Even if it were granted that a given intervention would..produce a given result..there would inevitably be time lags..which would diminish the efficacy of the remedy.
1937Mind XLVI. 169 The duration which will be indicated as a ‘*time-lapse’ in the standard clock which S carries. 1937Discovery June 192/1 Experimenters in time-lapse photography and nature photography in general. 1956Kenyon Rev. XVIII. 418 The time-lapse between any two primary stresses tends to be the same irrespective of the number of syllables and the junctures between them. 1957[see high-speed a.]. 1957New Scientist 19 Sept. 14/1 The study of living cells by time-lapse cinematography... Special ciné-cameras are used to take microphotographs..at the rate of about eight photographs per minute. 1974Sci. Amer. Apr. 123/2 In that industrial valley, the time-lapse photographs show, exposure from A.D. 1702 up to 1908 induced only light damage. 1983Listener 3 Nov. 35/3 Time-lapse, slow-motion, stop frame, microscopic, infra-red and underwater techniques are part of the stock-in-trade of the TV wildlife producer.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. iii. 86 Another electric pen..traces alongside the former line a ‘*time-line’ of which each undulation or link stands for a certain fraction of a second. 1895Daily News 5 Dec. 2/2 The masters, it is admitted, would be acting quite within their powers if they refuse to grant the apprentices their time lines. 1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 814 No pulse is regular, as a time line at the foot of a sphygmographic tracing will prove. 1967Sci. Year 51 The time line (sequence of the mission) and trajectory of the specific mission are analyzed. 1976New Yorker 30 Aug. 59 They were well behind the timeline, for the ground had allotted only ten minutes to move from one experiment to the next.
1871Rep. Comm. Patents 1869 (U.S.) II. 224/2 *Time-Lock... The combination of the shaft [etc.]. 1877Knight Dict. Mech., Time-lock, a lock having clock-work attached which..prevents the bolt being withdrawn when locked, until a certain interval of time has elapsed. 1908Daily Chron. 10 June 7/1 The time-lock on the door of a bank's vaults makes it impossible for the bank's officers themselves to enter the strong room after closing-time.
1895H. G. Wells (title) The *time machine. 1944C. Day Lewis Poetry for You ii. 12 How Poetry Began. To find this out, we'll have to jump into a Time Machine, put its gear-lever into reverse, and race backwards through many thousands of years into pre⁓historic time. 1960Guardian 7 Oct. 16/4 Nigel and Wendy arrive by time-machine in the Garden of Eden. 1978I. Watson in C. Priest Anticipations 22 The assumption that a time machine should proceed to its destination instanter instead of at a snail's pace.
1898Westm. Gaz. 11 Mar. 7/2 Five hundred cabs provided with the *time and fare marker were put on the stands. 1902Sloane Stand. Electr. Dict. Suppl., Time-marker, a light flexible stylus actuated by an electro-magnet in circuit with an electro-magnetic tuning-fork. It is used for recording tuning fork vibrations on a chronograph drum.
1902Westm. Gaz. 7 Feb. 2/2 The Bill..provides for a *time-notice of seven years to the holders of licences to sell liquor for consumption on the premises. 1908Ibid. 23 Mar. 2/3 The Government proposal..gives a fourteen years' time-notice for licences which until 1904 were granted for one year only.
1945H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes xii. 131 One elegant scheme for studying the effects of neutrons of a single, arbitrarily-selected velocity is the ‘*time of flight’ method. 1948S. A. Goudsmit in Physical Rev. LXXIV. 622/2 (heading) A time-of-flight mass spectrometer. 1969Egelstaff & Poole Exper. Neutron Thermalisation iv. 74 Measuring the velocity of the scattered neutrons by the time-of-flight technique. 1975McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 189/2 Both types exceed a mass resolution M/ΔM of 1000,..and in addition the time-of-flight version is completely free of artifacts.
1898Daily News 5 Dec. 6/6 This *time payment system is far too much bother for me, and I look on it as undignified for our trade. 1927Ladies' Home Jrnl. Dec. 45/2 Chrysler dealers are in a position to extend the convenience of time-payments. 1955Times 25 Aug. 6/6 The Government had been greatly concerned at the rapid expansion of time payment and hire purchase and its effects upon the economy.
1955J. Thomas No Banners xix. 171 Two sticks of plastic, a primer bound with a length of instantaneous fuse, and a ten-minute *time pencil. 1977J. Hutchison That Drug Danger xi. 88/1 Having pressed the time pencil which set off the explosive a quarter of an hour or one or two hours later.
1848Arnould Mar. Insur. i. v. (1866) I. 219 A *time policy is one in which the limits of the risk are designated only by certain fixed periods of time. 1895Kennedy in Law Times Rep. LXXII. 861/1 The policy is a time policy for six months from the 9th Jan. 1894 to the 8th July 1894.
1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 60 The *time-rate of description of area round the fixed centre is constant in all positions of the moving point. 1902E. Banks Newspaper Girl 263 We always pay the expenses and time rates when you go off on a job like that.
1898Engin. Mag. XVI. 41 Workmen use a mechanical *time-recorder requiring the vibration of a lever on entering and leaving the shop.
1977H. J. Eysenck You & Neurosis iv. 135 They were told that this was a peripheral-acting *time-release muscle-relaxant known to be effective. 1980Holistic Health News Sept./Oct. 2/1 This treatment is called ‘Magnetroph’ and was developed by Dr. Ernest Pescetti, renowned as ‘the father of the time-release principle’.
1956Nature 4 Feb. 222 (caption) Optical arrangement for spectrochemical analyses with *time-resolved spectra. 1977Ibid. 17 Feb. 659/2 (heading) Time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy of bacteriorhodopsin.
[1922I. Fisher Making of Index Numbers iv. 64 The *time reversal test... The index number reckoned forward should be the reciprocal of that reckoned backward.] 1955Proc. Glasgow Conf. Nucl. & Meson Physics 1954 viii. 341 The superselection rule on the parity of spinor-particle number is derived from a consideration which does not depend on double time-reversal. 1958Physical Rev. CX. 783/2 We see that at least one prediction of time reversal invariance is very well fulfilled. 1979Sci. Amer. June 116/3 The discovery of an electric dipole moment of the neutron would reveal a violation of the physical principle known as time-reversal symmetry.
1971Ibid. Dec. 97/1 *Time-reverse all motions and the three will return at the same instant to the starting point.
1962M. A. Preston Physics of Nucleus xvi. 475 The wave function of a *time-reversed state is obtained by taking the complex conjugate of the wave function of the original state and reversing all spin directions. 1981T. D. Lee Particle Physics & Introd. Field Theory xiii. 283 If the T-invariant classical system consists of a large number of particles, although the time-reversed sequence is always possible, it is in general improbable.
1960J. B. Carroll in Encycl. Educ. Research (ed. 3) 746/1 Careful *time-sampling and situation-sampling designs seem to be in order if one wants purely normative or ‘typical’ data. 1973Jrnl. Genetic Psychol. Sept. 99 Time sampling has been demonstrated to be an effective observational technique. 1979J. Jaffe et al. in Aaronson & Rieber Psycholinguistic Research 404 Assume the two states are digitized as ‘one’ or ‘two’ by discrete time sampling at intervals that must be shorter than the expected minimum time the system spends in any state.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. ix. 283 We make a solid wooden frame with the sentence written on its front, and the *time-scale on one of its sides. 1923N. Shaw Air & its Ways v. 46 The time-scale of the operations which tend to cause deviation is so large that the course of the operations escapes observation. 1934Discovery Aug. 227/1 The constructing of a geological and meteorological time-scale for the Southern Hemisphere. 1958F. E. Zeuner Dating Past 5 All these studies aiming at the establishment of absolute time-scales for the past are comprised by the term Geochronology. 1972Country Life 23 Mar. 672/2 The timescale of planning is a long one. 1979Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 409/1 We must also bear in mind the timescale involved in exploitation of oil and gas discoveries.
1892J. Royce Spirit Mod. Philos. 431 This transcending of a *time-series..is in fact what one might call the soul of the natural order. 1919Rev. Econ. Statistics Apr. 123/2, x and y represent the deviations of the items of two time series from their respective linear secular trends. 1928Jrnl. Amer. Statistical Assoc. XXIII. 407 The inferential possibilities of time series analysis are contingent upon segregating from the specific historical the repeatable, recurrent element. 1978Nature 19 Oct. 630/2 The resulting time series is then smoothed by using a 13-month running mean average to remove seasonal variations. 1979Daily Tel. 6 July 16 He has confirmed his original time series analysis with a more recent cross-sectional study. 1979J. Hicks Causality in Economics v. 64 There are two kinds of time-series, with different kinds of time reference. In one of them each item relates to a point of time, in the other to a period.
1893Westm. Gaz. 7 July 5/1 An elegantly printed *time-sheet had been laid on the table for the use of the Duke and Princess.
1907Daily Chron. 3 May 9/2 A light folding quarter-plate camera, with good lens, *time and instantaneous shutter.
1853Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1852 ii. 131 On the 5th of August 1852, the first *time-signal passed;..the clock at Greenwich..originates the signals. 1862Monthly Notices R. Astron. Soc. XXII. 119 At any time, day or night, when the wire is not wanted for ordinary work, London can receive time-signals from Liverpool every minute. 1877Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., The electro-magnetic telegraph has been used for operating time-signals..; thus, the Greenwich time is indicated at Liverpool..by the dropping of a ball. 1923[see news n. (pl.) 5 c]. 1972P. Lively Driftway v. 59 Through the atmospherics there came the time-signal, and then a man reading the news.
1875Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms s.v. Signature, There are two kinds of signature, the *time signature and the key-signature... It would be more proper to call the time-signature the measure sign, as it shows the contents of a bar, but not the pace at which the music should be performed.
1965Language XLI. 193 To the comparativists of the 1870's..a ‘synchronic’ view could be nothing more than taking a relatively thin *time-slice and doing the best one can with it. 1973Murrill & Smith Introd. Computer Sci. i. 31 A user receives the processor's undivided attention for one time slice but then receives no attention over the next three time slices. 1981Kilobaud Microcomputing June 35/2 At the end of the current user's time slice, he is put on hold by the scheduler, and the next user gets to run his program.
1967J. Martin Design of Real-Time Computer Systems 628/2 (Index), *Time-slicing. 1978W. S. Davies Information Processing Systems xv. 328 The whole purpose of the time-slicing approach..is to prevent any single user from dominating the system at the expense of everyone else.
1962*Time slot [see programme planning s.v. program, programme n. 4]. 1967J. Martin Design of Real-Time Computer Systems ix. 130 When the time-slot..for one user ends, it may be necessary to bring in a completely new set of data and programs for the next user. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. i. 7/5 It..will be interesting to learn what the viewer response is to a program concept of this dimension when aired at an odd afternoon time slot. 1980Pužman & Pořizek Communication Control in Computer Networks iii. 168 Time division multiplexing means that a certain time slot is to be assigned for a station for the time during which it can exchange data with another station. 1982‘W. R. Duncan’ Queen's Messenger vi. 49 People were units to be fitted into Sir John's available time slots.
1960N. Hilliard Maori Girl i. ii. 14 Netta was supposed to learn her words and the older ones their *times-tables. 1983Cotswold Life Nov. 19/1 Here the infants practised wobbly letters, began to chant the Times Tables, and spilt paint water all over the floor. 1984Reader's Digest Jan. 81/2 Children..slipping from ignorance to knowledge.., until one day finally they know their times tables.
1892Work IV. 75/3 The *time-stamp is altered every minute. 1963L. Meynell Virgin Luck viii. 181 Each slip is time-stamped as it comes from the telephonist who takes the bet. 1973Times 6 Dec. 9/8 Waiter's [sic] checks are time-stamped on receipt... This way, the clerk knows exactly when each item was ordered.
1962Times 16 Apr. 11/3 The ‘limpet’ meter for issuing *time-stamped tickets.
1929*Time-step [see stooge n. 1]. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) iii. 32, I knew exactly two steps, the time step and the crossover. 1975Time step [see pull-back 1 d].
1911F. W. Taylor Princ. Scientific Managem. 75 A careful *time study of men working under these conditions will disclose facts which are ludicrous as well as pitiable. 1928Britain's Industrial Future (Liberal Industr. Inquiry) III. xvi. 194 There should be means of revising rates..in consultation, with all the facts and time-study figures on the table. 1944Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLVIII. 257 Mr. Westbrook asked whether time study was used sufficiently to convince shop superintendents of the amount of labour necessary for any job. 1970T. Lupton Managem. & Social Sci. (ed. 2) i. 14 The organization as a whole, or at least those members of it with whom they have close contact, the supervisor, the time study man, and so on. 1979J. Harvey Plate Shop iii. 15 He was the best plater in the shop, and the Time Study would never believe he was working as fast as he could; and it was true, he always did work slow when studied, out of loyalty to his mates.
1902Specifications of Patents (U.S. Patent Office) 14 Oct. 1560/1, I, William B. Coulter,..have invented certain new and useful Improvements in *Time-Switches for Electric Lights. 1963Listener 3 Jan. 47/1 Portable time-switches vary in elaborateness and price. a1977Harrison Mayer Ltd. Catal. 64/2 A time switch can be installed on any kiln.
1630–56Gordon Hist. Earld. Sutherld. (1813) 325 That *tyme⁓takers wold be now easalie decerned from true freinds. 1867Livingstone in Blaikie Life xix. (1910) 323 His time-taker had no conscience and could not be trusted.
1838Dickens Nich. Nick. i, Mr. Nickleby..was a slow and *time-taking speaker.
1920A. S. Eddington Space, Time & Gravit. vi. 103 Leaving aside now the *time-term as sufficiently discussed, we consider the space-terms alone. 1974Nature 15 Mar. 204/1 If..the true Pn velocity is 8·0 km s-1 , then the average time terms are slightly reduced and the resulting crustal thickness estimates are about 5–10% lower.
1809Roland Fencing 81 To leave his body exposed to receive, in the interim of his motion, a *time thrust. 1834Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) IX. 503 Time thrusts are so called because the success of these movements depends entirely upon their being executed at the exact moment of time employed by the adversary in planning or in executing his attack.. Ibid., Passim. 1889Fencing (Badm. Libr.) 91 The time-thrust is an attack made with opposition on a complicated attack, and intended to intercept the line where such an attack is meant to finish.
1965E. Tunis Colonial Craftsmen vi. 146 Both the *time train and the striking train of a Terry clock are driven by weights wound up by a key. 1977Lancashire Life Jan. 39/2 One of the chief technical advances in the making of watches..was the improved design of the escapement, the device which secures uniformity in the rate of movement of the time-train.
1953A. C. Clarke Prelude to Space xxvi. 137 That lurid magazine..that goes in for hyperspace *time-travel. 1969Punch 1 Jan. 35/2 This intelligent and ingenious story..has a fascinating climax where people from both sides time-travel back to see the Passion and Crucifixion. 1975G. Ewart Be my Guest! i. 23 Belief in Time Travel and supernatural facilities.
1930Wonder Stories Nov. 489 We have purposely allowed our *time travellers to become known to the people of the eras that they visit, for in this way the great drama of the story becomes apparent. 1934C. Lambert Music Ho! ii. 69 The most successful time traveller of our days was undoubtedly Serge Diaghileff. 1972M. Crichton Terminal Man iii. i. 106 Slowly..he seemed to emerge like a time-traveler advancing through the years.
1871Swinburne Songs before Sunrise 171 Mother of man's *time-travelling generations,..The temples and the towers of time thou breakest. 1895H. G. Wells Time Machine iv. 28, I am afraid I cannot convey the peculiar sensations of time travelling. They are excessively unpleasant. 1934C. Lambert Music Ho! ii. ii. 73 By his adoption or even invention of the particular type of present-day pastiche that can conveniently be described as time travelling Diaghileff immediately established a position of mastery again. 1961Guardian 16 June 9/5 This musical time-travelling is presumably deliberate. 1981Craig & Cadogan Lady Investigates viii. 152 In children's fiction in general..magic and time-travelling were acceptable forms of the supernatural; ghosts were not.
1954Amer. Speech XXIX. 103 *Time trial,..a competitive event..in which cars are separately timed for top speed over set distances. 1976Scottish Daily Express 24 Dec. 13/6 Ten days ago an unknown sprinter ran an impressive time-trial against local man Jim Smith. 1977Wandsworth Borough News 16 Sept. 10/4 The Wandsworth and District Cycling Club Open 10 miles' Time-trial..resulted in a win for Eddie Adkins..in the fine time of 22 mins, 4 secs.
1887Moore & Aveling tr. Marx's Capital II. vi. xx. 553 The converted form under which the daily, weekly, &c., value of labour-power presents itself, is hence that of *time-wages, therefore day-wages, &c. 1892D. F. Schloss Methods Industrial Remuneration i. 11 The two leading forms of Industrial Remuneration under the wage-system are time-wages and piece-wages... The employee engaged on time-wage sells to his employer the labour which he shall perform within a given period, irrespective of the amount of labour performed within that period.
1859Sala Tw. Round Clock (1861) 175 You never see these ghostly *time-waiters anywhere but on 'Change, and out of 'Change hours. 1899Globe 30 June, During the debate Mr. Courtney call'd himself first a Liberal Unionist and then a Time-waiter.
1954W. M. Miller in Fantastic Jan.–Feb. 34/1 They showed me a dozen pictures of moppets with LTR-guns, moppets in *time-warp suits, moppets wearing Captain Chronos costumes, [etc.]. 1954Sociological Rev. Dec. 242 Instead of the ‘dream’ to move us out of lived time, it [sc. science and fantasy fiction] uses some machine to ‘move across the ‘time-warp’’, ‘to cut across the 4th dimension’. 1971Guardian 17 June 10/5 The time warp effect was..intensified by having David Frost—essentially an early sixties figure. 1974Times 22 Aug. 6 He pauses in his narrative and time-warps it back to South Staffs. 1976N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone i. 13 A sensation that always made him feel as if he had been time-warped back into wet diapers. 1983Listener 3 Nov. 32/3 Molly Kean's images are of psychic rather than physical decay, of families able to live beyond their means because they are trapped in a peculiar time-warp.
1953Sun (Baltimore) 27 Aug. 21/3 Of course, we [sc. railroads] can't meet the planes *time⁓wise. 1981J. D. MacDonald Free Fall in Crimson xx. 229 ‘How far are you from a pay phone, timewise?’ ‘Ten minutes.’
1829Bentham Justice & Cod. Petit., More Abr. Petit. Justice 3 He is paid according to the time during which he is occupied..in doing the work: this is called..*time work. 1910Edinb. Rev. Jan. 12 The advantages which piecework has over timework are more completely secured.
1917W. S. Churchill in M. Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1975) IV. iv. 63 These advances arose out of an intention to remedy the contrast between the wages of skilled *time workers in certain munitions industries which had grown up during the war. 1971Daily Tel. 15 Sept. 7/1 Representatives of nearly 3,000 ‘timeworkers’ at the Austin-Morris car body plant..have said that [their] pay offers.. are not acceptable.
1892E. Noel Internat. Time 4 The country [sc. United States of America]..is divided into *time-zones, each stretching over fifteen degrees of longitude, and differing one hour in time from the zone on either side of it. 1906Outlook 9 June 774/1 To move the Observatory..would involve the adoption of a new starting-point for the meridians of longitude and for the time-zones into which the world is divided. 1929[see diachronous a. 1]. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline lv. 553 Due to the time zone differences, they would have plenty of time to make the six o'clock news coast to coast. 1982Daily Tel. 24 Apr. 9/1 They conclude..that rapid travel through time zones precipitates psychiatric illness in people already predisposed to it.
b. Comb. with time's: time's arrow, the temporal asymmetry whereby many macroscopic phenomena do not occur in reverse even though such an event would not conflict with the laws of nature.
1928A. S. Eddington Nature of Physical World iv. 69, I shall use the phrase ‘time's arrow’ to express this one-way property of time which has no analogue in space. 1937Nature 27 Feb. 356/2 Eddington's statement..that the second law of thermodynamics holds ‘the supreme position among the laws of nature’. His reason is that this law alone reveals ‘time's arrow’. 1972S. Weinberg Gravitation & Cosmol. xv. 597 It is the expansion of the universe that, by providing a heat sink, sets the direction of time's arrow in thermodynamic processes.
Add:[VI.] [60.] [a.] time bomb, (a) (formerly at sense 59 a (c)) a bomb set to explode at a particular time; also fig. and attrib.; (b) Computing, a series of instructions surreptitiously incorporated in a program in such a way that they will be carried out when a particular time is reached, usually with deleterious results; cf. logic bomb s.v. *logic n. 4 b.
1893Daily Tel. 9 Nov. 5/7 The engine of destruction was not a *time bomb. 1939Dylan Thomas Map of Love 21 Strike in the time-bomb town. 1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? vi. 128 Sammy Glick is a time bomb in my brain and it's going to go off. 1966N. Nicolson Diaries & Lett. H. Nicolson 275 Harold Nicolson had long been aware that a constitutional time-bomb was ticking beneath the throne. 1978Times 17 Nov. 23/7 Computer crime... The planting of instructions to come into action at a given time is known as a time bomb or logic bomb. 1981‘M. Underwood’ Double Jeopardy xxiii. 181 His official diary could become a time bomb. 1989Times 21 Dec. 5 A Trojan Horse time bomb will destroy sensitive electronic files unless funds are sent in return for a decontamination disc, the blackmailers say.
▸ in one's (also its) own good time: at one's own pace, at a pace or time that cannot be affected by outside influence; unhurriedly, when good and ready.
In early use with reference to a time preordained by God.
1639W. Laud Relation Conf. Lawd & Fisher 388 The Blessed Meeting of Truth and Peace in his Church.., which God, in his own good time, will (I hope) effect. 1722S. Grainger Imposition of Inoculation 5 God in his own good time will either Remove, or mitigate the punishment. 1773R. Graves Spiritual Quixote I. ii. x. 89 He did not doubt but God would bring every thing about in his own good time. 1843Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) ix. 97 He..felt that the means of escape might possibly present themselves in their own good time, but that to anticipate them was hopeless. 1879H. James Confidence I. iv. 71 Miss Vivian, in her own good time, would doubtless mention to Gordon the little incident of Siena. 1938Internat. Affairs 17 321 The English-speaking North Americans are old-fashioned enough and naïve enough to be going to fight for democracy in their own good time. 1992Times Higher Educ. Suppl. 27 Mar. 19/5 The advent of high speed still photography..permitted human beings..to examine complicated temporal phenomena not in real time, but in their own good time—in leisurely, methodical backtracking analysis.
▸ at one's own good time: at a time of one's choosing; once one is ready.
1653R. Brome Damoiselle i. ii, Dry. Ile shortly visit you. Bum. At your own good time Sir. 1836C. G. F. Gore Mrs. Armytage I. vii. 100 Mrs. Armytage resented or relented at her own good time and pleasure. 1892E. C. Stedman in Cent. Mag. Oct. 866 At my own good time, Will I send my answer to you. 1945Times 12 June 5/4 Can Mr. Shannon state why in heaven or earth he should be free to return to his university at his own good time? 1997Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 21 May a8 They should be allowed to over come this fear at their own good time.
▸ euphem. time of the month n. (and variants) the time during which a woman is menstruating; an occurrence of menstruation; cf. period n. 3b.
1931Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 26 Aug. 7/1 (advt.) Every girl knows that these are the symptoms that say, ‘this is the time of the month you're not well.’ 1940Zanesville (Ohio) Signal 20 Feb. 6/1 (advt.) Gee I'm sorry! But it's my bad time of the month and I'm just miserable with chafing! 1968F. Exley Fan's Notes viii. 379 My first impression was that it was her time of the month, my first impulse to hurry her discreetly to the girls' room. 2002R. Gervais & S. Merchant Office 1st Ser. Episode 1. 24 Gareth. Alright? What is it, time of the month?
▪ II. time, v.|taɪm|
Pa. tense and pple. timed |taɪmd|.
[f. time n.: cf. OE. ᵹetímian to happen, befall. In sense 1, app. substituted for tide v.1, when time n. was superseding tide.]
I.
†1. intr. To befall, to happen; = tide v.1 1. impers. or with subject it. (Perf. with be.)
c1205Lay. 27978 Þa wes hit itimed [c 1275 ifunde] þere þat Merlin saide while. c1230Hali Meid. 35 Ofte hit timeð þat tat leoueste bearn..sorheð & sweameð meast his ealdren on ende. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3820 Do we us alle in godes red, Vs sal timen ðe betre sped. c1350Will. Palerne 5433 Þe same sey i be þe, so me wel time. a1400Morte Arth. 3150 In-to Tuskane he tournez, whene thus wele tymede.
†b. intr. To fare (well or ill); spec. to fare well, prosper. Obs.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1023 Bi ðan sal sarra selðe timen Ðat ȝe [= she] sal of a sune trimen. Ibid. 3392 Amalech fleȝ, and israel Hadde heȝere hond, and timede wel. Ibid. 4024 Ðis folc..Is vnder god timed wel. c1460Towneley Myst. ii. 26 God gif you ill to tyme!
II.
2. trans. To appoint or arrange the time of (an action or event); to choose the moment or occasion for. Usually (in context), to do (a thing) at the right time; ‘to adapt to the time.’ (J.).
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2241 Þou hatz tymed þi trauayl as true mon schulde. c1440Promp. Parv. 490/1 Tymyn, or make in tyme (and) in seson, temporo. 1625Bacon Ess., Of Delays (Arb.) 525 There is surely no greater Wisedome, then well to time the Beginnings, and Onsets of Things. c1708Beveridge Thes. Theol. (1710) II. 329 To teach us to submit to His wisdom..in timing all things. 1786F. Burney Diary 6 Oct., This visit was not so timed as to compose me. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T., Forester iii, Pray let me go to sleep..and time your explanations a little better. 1821Scott Kenilw. xvi, ‘Why, how now, Bowyer’, said Elizabeth, ‘thy courtesy seems strangely timed!’ 1865Kingsley Herew. v, They had timed their journey by the tides. 1884Courthope Addison v. 113 Nothing could have been better timed than the appearance of the Spectator.
b. To arrange the time of arrival of (a train, a ship, etc.); hence, to regulate the rate of travelling of; also, to calculate or judge the moment of impact of (a ball or moving body).
1861Times 22 Aug., The Royal train was timed to reach Leamington at 1.17 p.m. 1866Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 356 Educating, so to speak, his eye to time the ball correctly. 1880Newton Serm. Boys & Girls (1881) 167 Not timing himself right..he met him just in the road. 1889W. M. Acworth Railw. Eng. 198 The best train each way..is timed at over 45 miles an hour. Ibid. 202 The Great Northern..timed their trains to Doncaster..in 6 minutes less. 1890Punch 12 July 15 Special trains, timed to take at least half-an-hour longer. 1893[see timing vbl. n. 2].
c. To adjust (a clock, etc.) to keep accurate time.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mech. 504 The easy Timing of Watches by the Vibrations of the Pendulum. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 264 [A] Timing Box [is] a brass box for the reception of an uncased watch movement while it is being timed. Mod. Your watch is finished, but has not been exactly timed yet.
3. To mark the rhythm or measure of, as in music; to sing or play (an air or instrument) in (good or bad) time. Also fig.
c1500in Grose, etc. Antiq. Rep. (1809) IV. 408 Yet rationalis lingua expellit instrumentis all, Wel tymede and tewnede. 1602Marston Ant. & Mel. v, If that thou canst not give, goe hang thy selfe: Ile time thee dead, or verse thee to the rope. 1607Shakes. Cor. ii. ii. 114 He was a thing of Blood, whose euery motion Was tim'd with dying Cryes. a1711[see timing vbl. n. 2]. 1837Lockhart Scott Mar. an. 1815, He then..joined with a stentorian voice in the cheering, which the Prince himself timed.
b. To set the time of; to cause to coincide in time with something (const. to).
1655H. Vaughan Silex Scint., Isaac's Marr. 67 Others were tym'd and train'd up to 't. a1719Addison tr. Ovid iii. Mariners Transf. Dolphins 52 Old Epopeus..Who over⁓look'd the oars, and tim'd the stroke. 1725Pope Odyss. vii. 419 How fleet our sail, When justly tim'd with equal sweep they row. 1805Southey Madoc in W. xvii, Hark! 'tis the mariners with voice attuned Timing their toil! 1808Scott Marm. i. ii, Timing his footsteps to a march, The warder kept his guard. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. vi. 197 Timing the pull to the lurching of the ship.
c. intr. To keep time to; to sound or move in unison or harmony with.
1850Whittier Elliott iv, Timing to their stormy sounds, His stormy lays are sung. 1855Tennyson Maud i. xviii. 8 Beat, happy stars, timing with things below, Beat with my heart more blest than heart can tell. a1892Whitman Out of Cradle 8 The savage old mother, incessantly crying, To the boy's soul's questions sullenly timing.
†4. trans. To ‘give’ or tell the time to (any one). Obs. rare.
1583B. Melbancke Philotimus C ij, The fyre to warme thee, the scortching of the sunne: thy clocke to time thee, the scritching of y⊇ owle.
5. To fix the duration of; to assign the metrical quantity of (a syllable) or the duration of (a note); also, to regulate the operation or action of (a mechanism, etc.) as to duration (see also 7).
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xii[i]. (Arb.) 131 It could not possible be by vs perfourmed, because their sillables came to be timed some of them long, some of them short. 1597[see timing vbl. n. 2]. 1835Fraser's Mag. XII. 416 Lamarck has defined nature to be motion, and law, and space, and time, without reference to a being moving or moved, legislating or legislated upon, and timing or spacing, or being timed and spaced. 1885Manch. Exam. 12 Jan. 5/2 The clockwork apparatus, timed to run for two hours. 1893J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (1907) 58 If we have correctly timed our exposure.
†b. to time it out, to procrastinate, delay, spin out the time. Obs.
1613Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. 81 They timed it out all that Spring, and a great part of the next Sommer. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. II, Wks. (1711) 32 Others advised him..to time it out a while: in this lingring war a truce might be agreed upon.
6. To ascertain or note the time at which (something) is done or happens; to note the time occupied by or the duration of (an action, etc.).
1670Milton Hist. Eng. iv. Wks. (1847) 527/2 So different they often are one from another, both in timing and in naming. 1692Norris Curs. Refl. 19 The Question will be concerning the Timing of it, whether any of these Impressions be Original Characters or no. 1723–4Dk. Wharton True Briton No. 71 II. 602 The Timing of the subsequent Piece obliges us to insert the following Letter. 1859Lang Wand. India 393 Slowly as he read, it was over in twelve minutes, for I timed him. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 193 We who, darkling, timed the day's birth. 1896Daily News 13 Jan. 8/2 Another letter..timed 9 p.m. states that during the night of the 8th and 9th inst. the Shoans made an attack by surprise. 1907Academy 14 Sept. 885/2 He does not believe in what he cannot see, or time, or measure, or weigh.
7. Mech. To adjust the parts of (a mechanism) so that a succession of movements or operations takes place at the required intervals and in the desired sequence; to arrange the time of (an operation) in a mechanical cycle or series.
1895in Funk's Stand. Dict. 1898Engineering Mag. XVI. 108/1 When..a timing valve is used, instead of permitting the ignition to be timed by the compression.
8. Fencing. = to take the time (time n. 21, quot. 1809).
1809Roland Fencing 109 The too frequent practice of timing their adversary, because they will render their modes of play..very disagreeable to each other. 1889Dunn Fencing 83 There is always a large element of risk in timing.
9. to time out: to parcel out or apportion (a space of time). Cf. to space out.
1902Fortn. Rev. June 1036 When a man is always timing out his day, and dovetailing together the duties which compose his daily life.
▪ III. time
obs. form of thyme. |