Adjacent Words

Year definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

YEAR, n. [G.]
1. The space or period of time in which the sun moves through the twelve signs of the ecliptic, or whole circle, and returns to the same point. This is the solar year, and the year, in the strict and proper sense of the word. It is called also the tropical year. This period comprehends what are called the twelve calendar months, or 365 days, 5 hours, and 49 minutes, within a small fraction. But in popular usage, the year consists of 365 days, and every fourth year of 366; a day being added to February, on account of the 5 hours and 49 minutes.
2. The time in which any planet completes a revolution; as the year of Jupiter or of Saturn.
3. The time in which the fixed states make a revolution, is called the great year.
4. Years, in the plural, is sometimes equivalent to age or old age; as a man in years.
In popular language, year is often used for years. The horse is ten year old.
Sidereal year, the time in which the sun, departing from any fixed star, returns to the same. This is 365 day, 6 hours, 6 minutes, and 11, 5 seconds.
Anomalistical year, the time that elapses from the suns leaving its apogee, till it returns to it, which is 365 days, 6 hours, 14 minutes.
Civil year, the year which nay nation has contrived for the computation of time.
Bissextile or leap year, the year consisting of 366 days.
Lunar year, consists of 12 lunar months.
Lunar astronomical year, consists of 12 lunar synodical months, or 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 36 seconds.
Common lunar year, consists of 12 lunar civil months, or 354 days.
Embolismic or intercalary year, consists of 13 lunar civil months, and contains 384 days.
Julian year, established by Julius Caesar, consists of 365 days, 6 hours.
Gregorian year, is the Julian year corrected and is the year now generally used in Europe. From the difference between this and the Julian year, arises the distinction of Old and New Style.
Sabbatic year, among the Israelites, was every seventh year, when their land was suffered to lid untilled.
The civil or legal year, in England, formerly commenced on the 25th day of March. This practice continued till after the settlement of America, and the first settlers of New England observed it for many years.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days; "she is 4 years old"; "in the year 1920" [syn: year, twelvemonth, yr]
2: a period of time occupying a regular part of a calendar year that is used for some particular activity; "a school year"
3: the period of time that it takes for a planet (as, e.g., Earth or Mars) to make a complete revolution around the sun; "a Martian year takes 687 of our days"
4: a body of students who graduate together; "the class of '97"; "she was in my year at Hoehandle High" [syn: class, year]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English yere, from Old English g?ar; akin to Old High German j?r year, Greek h?ros year, h?ra season, hour Date: before 12th century 1. a. the period of about 365¹/₄ solar days required for one revolution of the earth around the sun b. the time required for the apparent sun to return to an arbitrary fixed or moving reference point in the sky c. the time in which a planet completes a revolution about the sun <two Mercury years> 2. a. a cycle in the Gregorian calendar of 365 or 366 days divided into 12 months beginning with January and ending with December b. a period of time equal to one year of the Gregorian calendar but beginning at a different time 3. a calendar year specified usually by a number <died in the year 1900> 4. plural a time or era having a special significance <their glory years> 5. a. 12 months that constitute a measure of age or duration <her 21st year> — often used in combination <a year-old child> b. plural age <wise beyond her years>; also the final stage of the normal life span 6. a period of time (as the usually 9-month period in which a school is in session) other than a calendar year

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 (also astronomical year, equinoctial year, natural year, solar year, tropical year) the time occupied by the earth in one revolution round the sun, 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds in length (cf. sidereal year). 2 (also calendar year, civil year) the period of 365 days (common year) or 366 days (see leap year) from 1 Jan. to 31 Dec., used for reckoning time in ordinary affairs. 3 a a period of the same length as this starting at any point (four years ago). b such a period in terms of a particular activity etc. occupying its duration (school year; tax year). 4 (in pl.) age or time of life (young for his years). 5 (usu. in pl.) colloq. a very long time (it took years to get served). 6 a group of students entering college etc. in the same academic year. Phrases and idioms: in the year of Our Lord (foll. by the year) in a specified year AD. of the year chosen as outstanding in a particular year (sportsman of the year). a year and a day the period specified in some legal matters to ensure the completion of a full year. the year dot see DOT(1). year in, year out continually over a period of years. year-long lasting a year or the whole year. year of grace the year AD. year-round existing etc. throughout the year. Etymology: OE ge(a)r f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Year Year, n. [OE. yer, yeer, [yogh]er, AS. ge['a]r; akin to OFries. i?r, g?r, D. jaar, OHG. j[=a]r, G. jahr, Icel. [=a]r, Dan. aar, Sw. [*a]r, Goth. j?r, Gr. ? a season of the year, springtime, a part of the day, an hour, ? a year, Zend y[=a]re year. [root]4, 279. Cf. Hour, Yore.] 1. The time of the apparent revolution of the sun trough the ecliptic; the period occupied by the earth in making its revolution around the sun, called the astronomical year; also, a period more or less nearly agreeing with this, adopted by various nations as a measure of time, and called the civil year; as, the common lunar year of 354 days, still in use among the Mohammedans; the year of 360 days, etc. In common usage, the year consists of 365 days, and every fourth year (called bissextile, or leap year) of 366 days, a day being added to February on that year, on account of the excess above 365 days (see Bissextile). Of twenty year of age he was, I guess. --Chaucer. Note: The civil, or legal, year, in England, formerly commenced on the 25th of March. This practice continued throughout the British dominions till the year 1752. 2. The time in which any planet completes a revolution about the sun; as, the year of Jupiter or of Saturn. 3. pl. Age, or old age; as, a man in years. --Shak. Anomalistic year, the time of the earth's revolution from perihelion to perihelion again, which is 365 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, and 48 seconds. A year's mind (Eccl.), a commemoration of a deceased person, as by a Mass, a year after his death. Cf. A month's mind, under Month. Bissextile year. See Bissextile. Canicular year. See under Canicular. Civil year, the year adopted by any nation for the computation of time. Common lunar year, the period of 12 lunar months, or 354 days. Common year, each year of 365 days, as distinguished from leap year. Embolismic year, or Intercalary lunar year, the period of 13 lunar months, or 384 days. Fiscal year (Com.), the year by which accounts are reckoned, or the year between one annual time of settlement, or balancing of accounts, and another. Great year. See Platonic year, under Platonic. Gregorian year, Julian year. See under Gregorian, and Julian. Leap year. See Leap year, in the Vocabulary. Lunar astronomical year, the period of 12 lunar synodical months, or 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 36 seconds. Lunisolar year. See under Lunisolar. Periodical year. See Anomalistic year, above. Platonic year, Sabbatical year. See under Platonic, and Sabbatical. Sidereal year, the time in which the sun, departing from any fixed star, returns to the same. This is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 9.3 seconds. Tropical year. See under Tropical. Year and a day (O. Eng. Law), a time to be allowed for an act or an event, in order that an entire year might be secured beyond all question. --Abbott. Year of grace, any year of the Christian era; Anno Domini; A. D. or a. d.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sidereal Si*de"re*al, a. [L. sidereus, from sidus, sideris, a constellation, a star. Cf. Sideral, Consider, Desire.] 1. Relating to the stars; starry; astral; as, sidereal astronomy. 2. (Astron.) Measuring by the apparent motion of the stars; designated, marked out, or accompanied, by a return to the same position in respect to the stars; as, the sidereal revolution of a planet; a sidereal day. Sidereal clock, day, month, year. See under Clock, Day, etc. Sideral time, time as reckoned by sideral days, or, taking the sidereal day as the unit, the time elapsed since a transit of the vernal equinox, reckoned in parts of a sidereal day. This is, strictly, apparent sidereal time, mean sidereal time being reckoned from the transit, not of the true, but of the mean, equinoctial point.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sothiac So"thi*ac, Sothic Soth"ic, a. Of or pertaining to Sothis, the Egyptian name for the Dog Star; taking its name from the Dog Star; canicular. Sothiac, or Sothic, year (Chronol.), the Egyptian year of 365 days and 6 hours, as distinguished from the Egyptian vague year, which contained 365 days. The Sothic period consists of 1,460 Sothic years, being equal to 1,461 vague years. One of these periods ended in July, a. d. 139.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(years) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. A year is a period of twelve months or 365 or 366 days, beginning on the first of January and ending on the thirty-first of December. The year was 1840... We had an election last year. ...the number of people on the planet by the year 2050. N-COUNT see also leap year 2. A year is any period of twelve months. The museums attract more than two and a half million visitors a year... She's done quite a bit of work this past year... The school has been empty for ten years. N-COUNT 3. Year is used to refer to the age of a person. For example, if someone or something is twenty years old or twenty years of age, they have lived or existed for twenty years. He's 58 years old... I've been in trouble since I was eleven years of age... This column is ten years old today. N-COUNT: num N adj/prep 4. A school year or academic year is the period of time in each twelve months when schools or universities are open and students are studying there. In Britain and the United States, the school year starts in September. ...the 1990/91 academic year... The twins didn't have to repeat their second year at school. N-COUNT: usu adj/ord N 5. You can refer to someone who is, for example, in their first year at school or university as a first year. (BRIT) The first years and second years got a choice of French, German and Spanish. N-COUNT: ord N 6. A financial or business year is an exact period of twelve months which businesses or institutions use as a basis for organizing their finances. (BUSINESS) He announced big tax increases for the next two financial years... The company admits it will make a loss for the year ending September. N-COUNT: with supp 7. You can use years to emphasize that you are referring to a long time. I haven't laughed so much in years... It took me years to fully recover... = age N-PLURAL [emphasis] 8. see also calendar year, fiscal year 9. If something happens year after year, it happens regularly every year. Regulars return year after year... PHRASE: PHR after v 10. If something changes year by year, it changes gradually each year. This problem has increased year by year... The department has been shrinking year by year because of budget cuts. PHRASE: PHR after v 11. If you say something happens all year round or all the year round, it happens continually throughout the year. Town gardens are ideal because they produce flowers nearly all year round... Drinking and driving is a problem all the year round. PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR with cl 12. donkey's years: see donkey

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Heb. shanah, meaning "repetition" or "revolution" (Gen. 1:14; 5:3). Among the ancient Egyptians the year consisted of twelve months of thirty days each, with five days added to make it a complete revolution of the earth round the sun. The Jews reckoned the year in two ways, (1) according to a sacred calendar, in which the year began about the time of the vernal equinox, with the month Abib; and (2) according to a civil calendar, in which the year began about the time of the autumnal equinox, with the month Nisan. The month Tisri is now the beginning of the Jewish year.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

yer (shanah, Aramaic shenah, "a return" (of the sun), like the Greek eniautos; yamim, "days," is also used for "year," and the Greek hemerai, corresponds to it (Jos 13:1; Lu 17,18); etos, is also employed frequently in the New Testament; for the difference between etos and eniautos, see Grimm-Thayer, under the word): The Hebrew year was solar, although the month was lunar, the adjustment being made in intercalation.

See ASTRONOMY; TIME.

Foolish Dictionary

A period originally including 365 days, now 325, since the other 40 are Lent.

Moby Thesaurus

abundant year, academic year, annum, bissextile year, calendar month, calendar year, century, common year, day, decade, decennary, decennium, defective year, fiscal year, fortnight, hour, leap year, lunar month, lunar year, lunation, luster, lustrum, man-hour, microsecond, millennium, millisecond, minute, moment, month, moon, quarter, quinquennium, regular year, second, semester, session, sidereal year, solar year, sun, term, trimester, twelvemonth, week, weekday