different between time vs length

English

Alternative forms

• tyme (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English tyme, time, from Old English t?ma (“time, period, space of time, season, lifetime, fixed time, favourable time, opportunity”), from Proto-Germanic *t?mô (“time”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh?im?, from Proto-Indo-European *deh?y- (“to divide”). Cognate with Scots tym, tyme (“time”), Alemannic German Zimen, Z?mmän (“time, time of the year, opportune time, opportunity”), Danish time (“hour, lesson”), Swedish timme (“hour”), Norwegian time (“time, hour”), Faroese tími (“hour, lesson, time”), Icelandic tími (“time, season”). Related with tide. Not related with Latin tempus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Canada, US) enPR: t?m, IPA^(key): /ta?m/, [t?a?m]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /t?em/
• (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?) (Tasmanian) IPA^(key): /t??m/
• Rhymes: -a?m
• Hyphenation: time
• Homophone: thyme

Noun

time (countable and uncountable, plural times)

1. (uncountable) The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present and past events.
   • 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.
      • 1895, H.G. Wells, The Time Machine, ?ISBN, 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!

      • 2010, Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory, W. W. Norton & Company ?ISBN, page 204

        We all have a visceral understanding of what it means for the universe to have multiple space dimensions, since we live in a world in which we constantly deal with a plurality — three. But what would it mean to have multiple times? Would one align with time as we presently experience it psychologically while the other would somehow be "different"?

   2. (physics, uncountable) Change associated with the second law of thermodynamics; the physical and psychological result of increasing entropy.
      • 2012, Robert Zwilling, Natural Sciences and Human Thought, Springer Science & Business Media ?ISBN, page 80

        Eventually time would also die because no processes would continue, no light would flow.

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

        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, reductionistic definition) The property of a system which allows it to have more than one distinct configuration.

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

   4. (countable) An experience.
   5. (countable) An era; (with the, sometimes in plural) the current era, the current state of affairs.
      • 63 BC, Cicero, First Oration against Catiline (translation)

        O the times, O the customs!

      • 1601, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

        The time is out of joint

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

   7. (only in singular, sports and figuratively) Time out; temporary, limited suspension of play.
3. An instant of time.
   1. (uncountable) How much of a day has passed; the moment, as indicated by a clock or similar device.
   2. (countable) A particular moment or hour; the appropriate moment or hour for something (especially with prepositional phrase or imperfect subjunctive).
   3. (countable) A numerical indication of a particular moment.

   5. (countable) An instance or occurrence.
      • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

        One more time.

   6. (Britain, in public houses) Closing time.

   7. The hour of childbirth.

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

   8. (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.

5. (countable) Ratio of comparison.

6. (grammar, dated) Tense.
   • 1823, Lindley Murray, Key to the Exercises Adapted to Murray's English Grammar, Fortland, page 53f.:

     Though we have, in the notes under the thirteenth rule of the Grammar, explained in general the principles, on which the time of a verb in the infinitive mood may be ascertained, and its form determined; [...]

   • 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, [...]

7. (music) The measured duration of sounds; measure; tempo; rate of movement; rhythmical division.

   • some few lines set unto a solemn time

Usage notes

For the number of occurrences and the ratio of comparison, once and twice are typically used instead of one time and two times. Thrice is uncommon but not obsolescent, and is still common in Indian English.

Typical collocations with time or time expressions.

• spend - To talk about the length of time of an activity.

- We spent a long time driving along the motorway.

- I've spent most of my life working here. (Time expression)

• take - To talk about the length of time of an activity.

- It took a long time to get to the front of the queue. See also - take one's time

- It only takes five minutes to get to the shop from here. (Time expression)

- How long does it take to do that? (Time expression)

• waste - see waste time

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:time.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: ten

Translations

See time/translations § Noun.

Verb

time (third-person singular simple present times, present participle timing, simple past and past participle timed)

1. To measure or record the time, duration, or rate of.

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

2. To choose when something begins or how long it lasts.

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

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

   • 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.
6. To measure, as in music or harmony.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

time

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.

See also

• calendar
• temporal
• Timese

References

• time on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• Time in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Time (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• METI, emit, it me, item, mite

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse tími, from Proto-Germanic *t?mô (“time”), cognate with Swedish timme, English time. From Proto-Indo-European *deh?y-, specifically Proto-Indo-European *deh?im?. The Germanic noun *t?diz (“time”) is derived from the same root.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ti?m?/, [?t?i?m?]

Noun

time c (singular definite timen, plural indefinite timer)

1. hour
2. lesson, class

Inflection

References

• “time,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English time.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tajm?/, [?t??jm?], (imperative) IPA^(key): /taj?m/, [?t??j?m],

Verb

time (past tense timede, past participle timet)

1. to time

Inflection

References

• “time,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Esperanto

Etymology

From tim- +? -e.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?time/
• Rhymes: -ime

Adverb

time

1. fearfully

Latin

Verb

tim?

1. second-person singular present active imperative of time?

References

• time in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French thym.

Noun

time

1. Alternative form of tyme (“thyme”)

Etymology 2

From Old English t?ma.

Noun

time

1. Alternative form of tyme (“time”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse tími, from Proto-Germanic *t?mô (“time”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh?y-, specifically Proto-Indo-European *deh?im?.

Noun

time m (definite singular timen, indefinite plural timer, definite plural timene)

1. an hour
2. a lesson, class

Derived terms

References

• “time” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse tími, from Proto-Germanic *t?mô (“time”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh?im?, from *deh?y- (“to share, divide”). Akin to English time.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²ti?m?/

Noun

time m (definite singular timen, indefinite plural timar, definite plural timane)

1. an hour
2. a lesson, class
3. an appointment

4. time, moment (mainly poetic)
   • 1945, Jakob Sande, "Da Daniel drog":

     No er timen komen, Daniel!

     Now the time has come, Daniel!

Derived terms

References

• “time” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse tími, from Proto-Germanic *t?mô.

Noun

t?me m

1. time
2. hour
3. occasion

Declension

Descendants

• Swedish: timme
• ? Finnish: tiima

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English team, from Middle English teme, from Old English t?am (“child-bearing, offspring, brood, set of draught animals”), from Proto-Germanic *taumaz (“that which draws or pulls”), from Proto-Germanic *taugijan?, *tug?n?, *teuh?n?, *teuhan? (“to lead, bring, pull, draw”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull, lead”).

Pronunciation

• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /?t??i.me/
• Hyphenation: ti?me

Noun

time m (plural times)

1. (Brazil, chiefly sports) a team

   Synonyms: (Portugal) equipa, (Brazil) equipe

2. (Brazil, informal) sexual orientation

Scots

Noun

time (plural times)

1. time

Spanish

Verb

time

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of timar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of timar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of timar.

English

Etymology

From Middle English lengthe, from Old English lengþu (“longness; length”), from Proto-West Germanic *langiþu, from Proto-Germanic *langiþ?, equivalent to long +? -th. Cognate with Scots lenth, lainth (“length”), Saterland Frisian Loangte (“length”), West Frisian lingte, langte (“length”), Dutch lengte (“length”), German Low German Längde, Längd, Längte, Längt (“length”), Danish længde (“length”), Swedish längd (“length”), Icelandic lengd (“length”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: l?ng(k)th, l?n(t)th, IPA^(key): /l??(k)?/, /l?n(t)?/
• Rhymes: -??k?, -???, -?nt?, -?n?

Noun

length (countable and uncountable, plural lengths)

1. The distance measured along the longest dimension of an object.
2. Duration.
   • 1941, Robert Frost, The Gift Outright

     Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.

3. (horse racing) The length of a horse, used to indicate the distance between horses at the end of a race.
4. (mathematics) Distance between the two ends of a line segment.
5. (cricket) The distance down the pitch that the ball bounces on its way to the batsman.
6. (figuratively) Total extent.

7. Part of something that is long; a physical piece of something.

8. (theater) A unit of script length, comprising 42 lines.
   • 1890, Henry Austin, Address of Henry Austin Before the Second Nationalist Club (page 38)

     […] open your book of the play, which you have previously carefully perused, and at the same time marked with the proper calls, as thus: a length (or 42 lines) before an entrance, with a pen make a figure on the margin, […]

   • 1960, J. L. Hodgkinson, ?Rex Pogson, The Early Manchester Theatre (page 45)

     The boy was engaged to write out parts at a penny a length (42 lines) for Chetwood, who then charged the manager, […]

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

length (third-person singular simple present lengths, present participle lengthing, simple past and past participle lengthed)

1. (obsolete) To lengthen.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Passionate Pilgrim, XIV. 30:

     Pack night, peep day; good day, of night now borrow: / Short night, to-night, and length thyself to-morrow.

   • 1552, Richard Huloet, "Ladies of Destinie" in Abecedarium Anglico-Latinum

     Was never man such favour could off atall ladies fynde, To cause them lengthe or shorte the day which they to hym assynde.

   • a. 1608, Thomas Sackville, Allegorical Personages described in Hell

     [He] knows full well life doth but length his pain.