time-out

[tahym-out] /ˈtaɪmˈaʊt/
noun, plural time-outs.
1.
a brief suspension of activity; intermission or break.
2.
Sports. a short interruption in a regular period of play during which a referee or other official stops the clock so that the players may rest, deliberate, make substitutions, etc.
Also, timeout.
Origin
1870-75
British Dictionary definitions for timeout

time-out

noun
1.
(sport) an interruption in play during which players rest, discuss tactics, or make substitutions
2.
a break taken during working hours
3.
(computing) a condition occurring when the amount of time a computer has been instructed to wait for another device to perform a task has expired, usually indicated by an error message
verb
4.
(intransitive) (of a computer) to stop operating because of a time-out
Word Origin and History for timeout

time-out

n.

also time out, 1896 in sports, 1939 in other occupations; from 1980 as the name of a strategy in child discipline; from time + out.

timeout in Technology


A period of time after which an error condition is raised if some event has not occured. A common example is sending a message. If the receiver does not acknowledge the message within some preset timeout period, a transmission error is assumed to have occured.
(1995-11-09)