Time \Time\, n.; pl. Times. [OE. time, AS. t[imac]ma, akin to
   t[imac]d time, and to Icel. t[imac]mi, Dan. time an hour, Sw.
   timme. [root]58. See Tide, n.]
   1. Duration, considered independently of any system of
      measurement or any employment of terms which designate
      limited portions thereof.
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            The time wasteth [i. e. passes away] night and day.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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            I know of no ideas . . . that have a better claim to
            be accounted simple and original than those of space
            and time.                             --Reid.
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   2. A particular period or part of duration, whether past,
      present, or future; a point or portion of duration; as,
      the time was, or has been; the time is, or will be.
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            God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake
            in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
                                                  --Heb. i. 1.
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   3. The period at which any definite event occurred, or person
      lived; age; period; era; as, the Spanish Armada was
      destroyed in the time of Queen Elizabeth; -- often in the
      plural; as, ancient times; modern times.
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   4. The duration of one's life; the hours and days which a
      person has at his disposal.
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            Believe me, your time is not your own; it belongs to
            God, to religion, to mankind.         --Buckminster.
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   5. A proper time; a season; an opportunity.
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            There is . . . a time to every purpose. --Eccl. iii.
                                                  1.
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            The time of figs was not yet.         --Mark xi. 13.
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   6. Hour of travail, delivery, or parturition.
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            She was within one month of her time. --Clarendon.
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   7. Performance or occurrence of an action or event,
      considered with reference to repetition; addition of a
      number to itself; repetition; as, to double cloth four
      times; four times four, or sixteen.
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            Summers three times eight save one.   --Milton.
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   8. The present life; existence in this world as contrasted
      with immortal life; definite, as contrasted with infinite,
      duration.
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            Till time and sin together cease.     --Keble.
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   9. (Gram.) Tense.
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   10. (Mus.) The measured duration of sounds; measure; tempo;
       rate of movement; rhythmical division; as, common or
       triple time; the musician keeps good time.
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             Some few lines set unto a solemn time. --Beau. &
                                                  Fl.
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   Note: Time is often used in the formation of compounds,
         mostly self-explaining; as, time-battered,
         time-beguiling, time-consecrated, time-consuming,
         time-enduring, time-killing, time-sanctioned,
         time-scorner, time-wasting, time-worn, etc.
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   Absolute time, time irrespective of local standards or
      epochs; as, all spectators see a lunar eclipse at the same
      instant of absolute time.

   Apparent time, the time of day reckoned by the sun, or so
      that 12 o'clock at the place is the instant of the transit
      of the sun's center over the meridian.

   Astronomical time, mean solar time reckoned by counting the
      hours continuously up to twenty-four from one noon to the
      next.

   At times, at distinct intervals of duration; now and then;
      as, at times he reads, at other times he rides.

   Civil time, time as reckoned for the purposes of common
      life in distinct periods, as years, months, days, hours,
      etc., the latter, among most modern nations, being divided
      into two series of twelve each, and reckoned, the first
      series from midnight to noon, the second, from noon to
      midnight.

   Common time (Mil.), the ordinary time of marching, in which
      ninety steps, each twenty-eight inches in length, are
      taken in one minute.

   Equation of time. See under Equation, n.

   In time.
       (a) In good season; sufficiently early; as, he arrived in
           time to see the exhibition.
       (b) After a considerable space of duration; eventually;
           finally; as, you will in time recover your health and
           strength.

   Mean time. See under 4th Mean.

   Quick time (Mil.), time of marching, in which one hundred
      and twenty steps, each thirty inches in length, are taken
      in one minute.

   Sidereal time. See under Sidereal.

   Standard time, the civil time that has been established by
      law or by general usage over a region or country. In
      England the standard time is Greenwich mean solar time. In
      the United States and Canada four kinds of standard time
      have been adopted by the railroads and accepted by the
      people, viz., Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific
      time, corresponding severally to the mean local times of
      the 75th, 90th, 105th, and 120th meridians west from
      Greenwich, and being therefore five, six, seven, and eight
      hours slower than Greenwich time.

   Time ball, a ball arranged to drop from the summit of a
      pole, to indicate true midday time, as at Greenwich
      Observatory, England. --Nichol.

   Time bargain (Com.), a contract made for the sale or
      purchase of merchandise, or of stock in the public funds,
      at a certain time in the future.

   Time bill. Same as Time-table. [Eng.]

   Time book, a book in which is kept a record of the time
      persons have worked.

   Time detector, a timepiece provided with a device for
      registering and indicating the exact time when a watchman
      visits certain stations in his beat.

   Time enough, in season; early enough. "Stanly at Bosworth
      field, . . . came time enough to save his life." --Bacon.

   Time fuse, a fuse, as for an explosive projectile, which
      can be so arranged as to ignite the charge at a certain
      definite interval after being itself ignited.

   Time immemorial, or Time out of mind. (Eng. Law) See
      under Immemorial.

   Time lock, a lock having clockwork attached, which, when
      wound up, prevents the bolt from being withdrawn when
      locked, until a certain interval of time has elapsed.

   Time of day, salutation appropriate to the times of the
      day, as "good morning," "good evening," and the like;
      greeting.

   To kill time. See under Kill, v. t.

   To make time.
       (a) To gain time.
       (b) To occupy or use (a certain) time in doing something;
           as, the trotting horse made fast time.

   To move against time, To run against time, or To go
   against time, to move, run, or go a given distance without a
      competitor, in the quickest possible time; or, to
      accomplish the greatest distance which can be passed over
      in a given time; as, the horse is to run against time.

   True time.
       (a) Mean time as kept by a clock going uniformly.
       (b) (Astron.) Apparent time as reckoned from the transit
           of the sun's center over the meridian.
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Equation \E*qua"tion\, n. [L. aequatio an equalizing: cf. F.
   ['e]quation equation. See Equate.]
   1. A making equal; equal division; equality; equilibrium.
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            Again the golden day resumed its right,
            And ruled in just equation with the night. --Rowe.
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   2. (Math.) An expression of the condition of equality between
      two algebraic quantities or sets of quantities, the sign =
      being placed between them; as, a binomial equation; a
      quadratic equation; an algebraic equation; a
      transcendental equation; an exponential equation; a
      logarithmic equation; a differential equation, etc.
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   3. (Astron.) A quantity to be applied in computing the mean
      place or other element of a celestial body; that is, any
      one of the several quantities to be added to, or taken
      from, its position as calculated on the hypothesis of a
      mean uniform motion, in order to find its true position as
      resulting from its actual and unequal motion.
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   Absolute equation. See under Absolute.

   Equation box, or Equational box, a system of differential
      gearing used in spinning machines for regulating the twist
      of the yarn. It resembles gearing used in equation clocks
      for showing apparent time.

   Equation of the center (Astron.), the difference between
      the place of a planet as supposed to move uniformly in a
      circle, and its place as moving in an ellipse.

   Equations of condition (Math.), equations formed for
      deducing the true values of certain quantities from others
      on which they depend, when different sets of the latter,
      as given by observation, would yield different values of
      the quantities sought, and the number of equations that
      may be found is greater than the number of unknown
      quantities.

   Equation of a curve (Math.), an equation which expresses
      the relation between the co["o]rdinates of every point in
      the curve.

   Equation of equinoxes (Astron.), the difference between the
      mean and apparent places of the equinox.

   Equation of payments (Arith.), the process of finding the
      mean time of payment of several sums due at different
      times.

   Equation of time (Astron.), the difference between mean and
      apparent time, or between the time of day indicated by the
      sun, and that by a perfect clock going uniformly all the
      year round.

   Equation clock or Equation watch, a timepiece made to
      exhibit the differences between mean solar and apparent
      solar time. --Knight.

   Normal equation. See under Normal.

   Personal equation (Astron.), the difference between an
      observed result and the true qualities or peculiarities in
      the observer; particularly the difference, in an average
      of a large number of observation, between the instant when
      an observer notes a phenomenon, as the transit of a star,
      and the assumed instant of its actual occurrence; or,
      relatively, the difference between these instants as noted
      by two observers. It is usually only a fraction of a
      second; -- sometimes applied loosely to differences of
      judgment or method occasioned by temperamental qualities
      of individuals.

   Theory of equations (Math.), the branch of algebra that
      treats of the properties of a single algebraic equation of
      any degree containing one unknown quantity.
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