Adjacent Words

Era definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

E'RA, n. [L. oera. The origin of the term is not obvious.]
1. In chronology, a fixed point of time, from which any number of years is begun to be counted; as the Christian Era. It differs from epoch in this; era is a point of time fixed by some nation or denomination of men; epoch is a point fixed by historians and chronologists. The christian era began at the epoch of the birth of Christ.
2. A succession of years proceeding from a fixed point, or comprehended between two fixed points. The era of the Seleucides ended with the reign of Antiochus.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event [syn: era, epoch]
2: a major division of geological time; an era is usually divided into two or more periods [syn: era, geological era]
3: (baseball) a measure of a pitcher's effectiveness; calculated as the average number of earned runs allowed by the pitcher for every nine innings pitched [syn: earned run average, ERA]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Late Latin aera, from Latin, counters, plural of aer-, aes copper, money — more at ore Date: 1615 1. a. a fixed point in time from which a series of years is reckoned b. a memorable or important date or event; especially one that begins a new period in the history of a person or thing 2. a system of chronological notation computed from a given date as basis 3. a. a period identified by some prominent figure or characteristic feature <the era of the horse and buggy> b. a stage in development (as of a person or thing) c. a large division of geologic time usually shorter than an eon <Paleozoic era> Synonyms: see period

Merriam Webster's

abbreviation 1. earned run average 2. Equal Rights Amendment

Britannica Concise

Very long span of geologic time; in formal usage, a portion of geologic time of the second-greatest magnitude (eons are longer). Three eras are recognized: Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. Because of the difficulties involved in establishing accurate chronologies, the Precambrian, or earliest, eras are classified independently. An era is composed of one or more geologic periods.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a system of chronology reckoning from a noteworthy event (the Christian era). 2 a large distinct period of time, esp. regarded historically (the pre-Roman era). 3 a date at which an era begins. 4 Geol. a major division of time. Etymology: LL aera number expressed in figures (pl. of aes aeris money, treated as fem. sing.)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Era E"ra, n.; pl. Eras. [LL. aera an era, in earlier usage, the items of an account, counters, pl. of aes, aeris, brass, money. See Ore.] 1. A fixed point of time, usually an epoch, from which a series of years is reckoned. The foundation of Solomon's temple is conjectured by Ideler to have been an era. --R. S. Poole. 2. A period of time reckoned from some particular date or epoch; a succession of years dating from some important event; as, the era of Alexander; the era of Christ, or the Christian era (see under Christian). The first century of our era. --M. Arnold. 3. A period of time in which a new order of things prevails; a signal stage of history; an epoch. Painting may truly be said to have opened the new era of culture. --J. A. Symonds. Syn: Epoch; time; date; period; age; dispensation. See Epoch.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(eras) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. You can refer to a period of history or a long period of time as an era when you want to draw attention to a particular feature or quality that it has. ...the nuclear era... It was an era of austerity. = age N-COUNT: usu supp N, N of n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

e'-ra:

We find no definite era in use in Old Testament times, and such usage does not appear until we reach the period of the Maccabees. There are some references to important events that might have served as eras had they been generally accepted and constantly employed. Such was the Exodus; and this is referred to as the starting-point in fixing the date of the building of Solomon's temple (1Ki 6:1), and also for the date of Aaron's death (Nu 33:38).

An earthquake is referred to by Amos 1:1 as a well-known event by which to date the beginning of his prophetic career; and Ezekiel in two passages refers to the captivity of Judah as a date for marking certain events in his life. Of these the Exodus would have been the most appropriate event to use as an era, since it marked the birth of the Hebrew nation; but the universal custom of antiquity was to date from the regnal years of the kings, as we see in the history of Egypt and Babylonia and Assyria; this custom was followed by the Israelites as soon as the kingdom was established, and was continued down to the Captivity. After the return of the Jews they naturally adopted the regnal years of the Persian kings, under whose rule they were, until the overthrow of the kingdom by Alexander. After this event, the era that prevailed most widely in Syria was that of the Seleucid kingdom, which began in 312 BC, and must have been familiar to the Jews, and we have evidence that they made use of it. When Simon the Maccabee secured the independence of the Jews from the Seleucid king, Demetrius II, in 141-140, they began to date their instruments and contracts from this event as is stated in 1 Macc 13:41,42; and we find that the year of their independence is fixed by reference to the Seleucid era, the first year of Simon being the 170th of that era (see Josephus, Ant, XIII, vi, 7).

After this they used the era of Simon, dating by his regnal years; but whether they used this as a permanent era during the Asmonean Dynasty or dated simply from the accession of each king, we do not know. There is no doubt that the Seleucid era continued to be used throughout the country for several centuries after the downfall of the Seleucid kingdom, as we have abundant evidence from inscriptions. When the Romans took possession of Syria and Palestine, their era was of course employed by Roman officials, but this did not prevail among the people. The dynasty of the Herods sometimes employed their own regnal years and sometimes those of the emperors, as appears from their coins. The Jews must have been familiar with the eras employed by some of the Phoenician towns, such as Tyre and Sidon. Tyre had a local era which began in 126 BC, and Sidon one beginning in 112 BC; and most of the towns on the coast used the era of Alexander, dating from the battle of Issus, until the establishment of the Seleucid era. The Jews would be familiar with these from their commercial connections with the coast towns, but we do not know that they used them. They did not adopt the era of the Creation until after the time of Christ. It was fixed at 4,000 years before the destruction of the later temple, or 3760 BC.

H. Porter

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Series or succession of years (marked by any administration or dispensation). 2. Epoch, period, date, age, period of time. 3. Point of time (from which dates are reckoned), origin of dates, chronological starting-point.

Dictionary of Ro

being

Moby Thesaurus

Bronze Age, Dark Ages, Depression Era, Golden Age, Ice Age, Iron Age, Jacksonian Age, Middle Ages, New Deal Era, Prohibition Era, Silver Age, Steel Age, Stone Age, age, days, epoch, glacial epoch, stage, term, time