From Middle English tyme, time, from Old English tīma, from Proto-West Germanic *tīmō, from Proto-Germanic *tīmô, from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂imō, from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y-.

• Scots tym, tyme ("time")
• Swiss German Zimen, Zīmmän
• Danish time
• Swedish timme
• Norwegian time
• Faroese tími
• Icelandic tími.

• (RP, America) enPR: tīm, IPA: /taɪm/, [tʰaɪ̯m]
• (Australia) IPA: /tɑɪm/, [tʰɑe̯m]
• (Tasmanian) IPA: /tɜːm/

time

1. (uncountable) The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present and past events.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:time

   Time stops for nobody.   the ebb and flow of time

   • 1937, Delmore Schwartz, Calmly We Walk Through This April's Day‎:

     Time is the fire in which we burn.

   1. (physics, usually, uncountable) A dimension of spacetime with the opposite metric signature to space dimensions; the fourth dimension.

      Both science-fiction writers and physicists have written about travel through time.

      • 1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC ↗, page 35:

        So long as I travelled at a high velocity through time, this scarcely mattered; I was, so to speak, attenuated — was slipping like a vapour through the interstices of intervening substances!

   2. (physics, uncountable) Change associated with the second law of thermodynamics; the physical and psychological result of increasing entropy.

      Time slows down when you approach the speed of light.

      • 2015, Highfield, Arrow Of Time, Random House ISBN 9780753551790

        Given the connection between increasing entropy and the arrow of time, does the Big Crunch mean that time would run backwards as soon as collapse began?

   3. (physics, uncountable, reductionist definition) The property of a system which allows it to have more than one distinct configuration.

      An essential definition of time should entail neither speed nor direction, just change.

   4. (uncountable) The feeling of the passage of events and their relative duration, as experienced by an individual.

      Time flies when you're having fun.

2. A duration of time.
   1. (uncountable) A quantity of availability of duration.

      More time is needed to complete the project.   You had plenty of time, but you waited until the last minute.   Are you finished yet? Time’s up!

      • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond‎:

        During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]

   2. (countable) A measurement of a quantity of time; a numerical or general indication of a length of progression.

      a long time;  Record the individual times for the processes in each batch.   Only your best time is compared with the other competitors.   The algorithm runs in O(n²) time.

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

        I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

      • 1938, Richard Hughes, In Hazard:

        The shock of the water, of course, woke him, and he swam for quite a time.

   3. (uncountable, slang) The serving of a prison sentence.

      The judge leniently granted a sentence with no hard time.   He is not living at home because he is doing time.

      • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 108 ↗:

        "Ain't gone be no Rikers Island for you next time," I warned him. "You get tapped on another gun charge and you looking at some upstate time."

   4. (countable) An experience.

      We had a wonderful time at the party.

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

        I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

   5. (countable) An era#Noun; (with the, sometimes in the plural) the current era, the current state of affairs.

      Roman times;  the time of the dinosaurs;  how things were at that time;  how things were in those times

      • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

        The time is out of joint

   6. (uncountable, with possessive) A person's youth or young adulthood, as opposed to the present day.

      In my time, we respected our elders.

   7. (only in singular, sports and figuratively) Time out; temporary, limited suspension of play.
3. An instant of time.
   1. (uncountable) The duration of time of a given day that has passed; the moment, as indicated by a clock or similar device.

      Excuse me, have you got the time?   What time is it, do you guess? Ten o’clock?   A computer keeps time using a clock battery.

   2. (countable) A particular moment or hour; the appropriate moment or hour for something (especially with prepositional phrase or imperfect subjunctive).

      it’s time for bed;  it’s time to sleep;  we must wait for the right time;  it's time we were going

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

        The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

   3. (countable) A numerical indication of a particular moment.

      at what times do the trains arrive?;  these times were erroneously converted between zones

   4. (countable) An instance or occurrence.

      When was the last time we went out? I don’t remember.

      see you another time;  that’s three times he’s made the same mistake

      Okay, but this is the last time. No more after that!

      • 2016, [https://web.archive.org/web/20170918070146/https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/lets-learn-english-lesson-3-i-am-here/3126527.html VOA Learning English] (public domain)

        One more time.

   5. (UK, in public houses) Closing time.

      Last call: it's almost time.

   6. The hour of childbirth.
      • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC ↗:

        She was within little more than one month of her time.

   7. (as someone's time) The end of someone's life, conceived by the speaker as having been predestined.

      It was his time.

4. (countable) The measurement under some system of region of day or moment.

   Let's synchronize our watches so we're not on different time.

5. (countable) A ratio of comparison.

   your car runs three times faster than mine;  that is four times as heavy as this

6. (music, uncountable) The measured duration of sounds.

   (dated) dance time;   march time (see usage notes)

   1. (uncountable) Tempo; a measured rate of movement.

      The musician keeps good time.

      • 1619–1620, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The False One. A Tragedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC ↗, Act I, scene ii:

        some few lines set unto a solemn time

   2. (uncountable) Rhythmical division, meter.

      common or triple time;   time signature

   3. (jazz) (uncountable) A straight rhythmic pattern, free from fills, breaks and other embellishments.

      After the introduction, the drummer is to play time.

7. (grammar, obsolete) A tense.

   the time of a verb

   • 1829, Benjamin A. Gould, Adam's Latin Grammar, Boston, page 153:

     The participles of the future time active, and perfect passive, when joined with the verb esse, were sometimes used as indeclinable; thus, [...]

8. (slang, MLE) Clipping of a long time

   Synonyms: ages, long

see time/translations

time (times, present participle timing; simple past and past participle timed)

1. (transitive) To measure or record the time, duration, or rate of something.

   I used a stopwatch to time myself running around the block.

2. (transitive) To choose when something commences or its duration.

   The President timed his speech badly, coinciding with the Super Bowl.

   The bomb was timed to explode at 9:20 p.m.

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the chapter)”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC ↗:

     There is surely no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and onsets of things.

3. (obsolete) To keep or beat time; to proceed or move in time.
   • 1861, John Greenleaf Whittier, At Port Royal:

     With oar strokes timing to their song.

4. (obsolete) To pass time; to delay.
5. To regulate as to time; to accompany, or agree with, in time of movement.
   • 1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses:

     Who overlooked the oars, and timed the stroke.

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene ii]:

     He was a thing of blood, whose every motion / Was timed with dying cries.

6. To measure, as in music or harmony.

• (to measure time) clock
• (to choose the time for) set

• French: chronométrer
• German: Zeit nehmen, Zeit stoppen, Zeit messen
• Portuguese: cronometrar
• Russian: хронометрировать
• Spanish: cronometrar

• German: Zeitpunkt wählen, zeitlich planen, terminieren, timen
• Italian: fissare, programmare
• Portuguese: marcar, programar
• Spanish: programar

1. (tennis) Reminder by the umpire for the players to continue playing after their pause.
2. The umpire's call in prizefights, etc.
3. A call by a bartender to warn patrons that the establishment is closing and no more drinks will be served.