year

[yeer] /yɪər/
noun
1.
a period of 365 or 366 days, in the Gregorian calendar, divided into 12 calendar months, now reckoned as beginning Jan. 1 and ending Dec. 31 (calendar year or civil year)
Compare common year, leap year.
2.
a period of approximately the same length in other calendars.
3.
a space of 12 calendar months calculated from any point:
This should have been finished a year ago.
4.
Astronomy.
  1. Also called lunar year. a division of time equal to 12 lunar months.
  2. Also called astronomical year, equinoctial year, solar year, tropical year. a division of time equal to about 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, representing the interval between one vernal equinox and the next.
  3. Also called sidereal year. a division of time equal to the equinoctial year plus 20 minutes, representing the time required for the earth to complete one revolution around the sun, measured with relation to the fixed stars.
    Compare anomalistic year.
5.
the time in which any planet completes a revolution round the sun:
the Martian year.
6.
a full round of the seasons.
7.
a period out of every 12 months, devoted to a certain pursuit, activity, or the like:
the academic year.
8.
years.
  1. age.
  2. old age:
    a man of years.
  3. time; period:
    the years of hardship and frustration.
  4. an unusually long period of time of indefinite length:
    I haven't spoken to them in years.
9.
a group of students entering school or college, graduating, or expecting to graduate in the same year; class.
Idioms
10.
a year and a day, a period specified as the limit of time in various legal matters, as in determining a right or a liability, to allow for a full year by any way of counting.
11.
from the year one, for a very long time; as long as anyone remembers:
He's been with the company from the year one.
12.
year in and year out, regularly through the years; continually:
Year in and year out they went to Florida for the winter.
Also, year in, year out.
Origin
before 900; Middle English yeer, Old English gēar; cognate with Dutch jaar, German Jahr, Old Norse ār, Gothic jēr, Greek hôros year, hṓrā season, part of a day, hour
Related forms
multiyear, adjective
Examples from the web for year
  • It starts bearing fruit early on and can produce all year.
  • Start with three top-size bulbs this year and have a dozen flowers by the following summer.
  • Each year since, this easy-to-grow annual has reseeded itself.
  • Breakfasts with protein, fiber start the school year right.
  • The dichotomy illustrates how credit risk has emerged in government bond markets this year.
  • Next, two dozen flags stream by as the ten-year-olds shout out the names of the corresponding countries.
  • About a fifth of all new jobs were created there last year.
  • Who would be rich in a year gets hanged in half a year.
  • No runner tracks in this year's snow looped near it.
  • Each year, selective colleges tout their application totals, along with the virtues of their applicants.
British Dictionary definitions for year

year

/jɪə/
noun
1.
Also called civil year. the period of time, the calendar year, containing 365 days or in a leap year 366 days. It is based on the Gregorian calendar, being divided into 12 calendar months, and is reckoned from January 1 to December 31
2.
a period of twelve months from any specified date, such as one based on the four seasons
3.
a specific period of time, usually occupying a definite part or parts of a twelve-month period, used for some particular activity: a school year
4.
Also called astronomical year, tropical year. the period of time, the solar year, during which the earth makes one revolution around the sun, measured between two successive vernal equinoxes: equal to 365.242 19 days
5.
the period of time, the sidereal year, during which the earth makes one revolution around the sun, measured between two successive conjunctions of a particular distant star: equal to 365.256 36 days
6.
the period of time, the lunar year, containing 12 lunar months and equal to 354.3671 days
7.
the period of time taken by a specified planet to complete one revolution around the sun: the Martian year
8.
(pl) age, esp old age: a man of his years should be more careful
9.
(pl) time: in years to come
10.
a group of pupils or students, who are taught or study together, divided into classes at school: they are the best year we've ever had for history
11.
(informal) the year dot, as long ago as can be remembered
12.
(English law) year and a day, a period fixed by law to ensure the completion of a full year. It is applied for certain purposes, such as to determine the time within which wrecks must be claimed
13.
year in, year out, regularly or monotonously, over a long period
related
adjective annual
Usage note
In writing spans of years, it is important to choose a style that avoids ambiguity. The practice adopted in this dictionary is, in four-figure dates, to specify the last two digits of the second date if it falls within the same century as the first: 1801–08; 1850–51; 1899–1901. In writing three-figure bc dates, it is advisable to give both dates in full: 159–156 bc, not 159–56 bc unless of course the span referred to consists of 103 years rather than three years. It is also advisable to specify bc or ad in years under 1000 unless the context makes this self-evident
Word Origin
Old English gear; related to Gothic jēr, Old Saxon, Old High German jār, Old Norse ār year, Polish jar springtime, Latin hōrnus of this year
Word Origin and History for year
n.

Old English gear (West Saxon), ger (Anglian) "year," from Proto-Germanic *jæram "year" (cf. Old Saxon, Old High German jar, Old Norse ar, Danish aar, Old Frisian ger, Dutch jaar, German Jahr, Gothic jer "year"), from PIE *yer-o-, from root *yer-/*yor- "year, season" (cf. Avestan yare (nominative singular) "year;" Greek hora "year, season, any part of a year," also "any part of a day, hour;" Old Church Slavonic jaru, Bohemian jaro "spring;" Latin hornus "of this year;" Old Persian dušiyaram "famine," literally "bad year"). Probably originally "that which makes [a complete cycle]," and from verbal root *ei- meaning "to do, make."

Slang definitions & phrases for year

year

noun

One dollar; a dollar bill (1935+ Underworld)

Related Terms

out-year


year in the Bible

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.

Idioms and Phrases with year

year

In addition to the idiom beginning with
year
also see: