\Time\, n.; pl. {Times}. [OE. time, AS. t[=i]ma, akin to
t[=i]d time, and to Icel. t[=i]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.
         The time wasteth [i. e. passes away] night and day.
                                               --Chaucer.
         I know of no ideas . . . that have a better claim to
         be accounted simple and original than those of space
         and time.                             --Reid.
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.
         God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake
         in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
                                               --Heb. i. 1.
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.
4. The duration of one's life; the hours and days which a
   person has at his disposal.
         Believe me, your time is not your own; it belongs to
         God, to religion, to mankind.         --Buckminster.
5. A proper time; a season; an opportunity.
         There is . . . a time to every purpose. --Eccl. iii.
                                               1.
         The time of figs was not yet.         --Mark xi. 13.
6. Hour of travail, delivery, or parturition.
         She was within one month of her time. --Clarendon.
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.
         Summers three times eight save one.   --Milton.
8. The present life; existence in this world as contrasted
   with immortal life; definite, as contrasted with infinite,
   duration.
         Till time and sin together cease.     --Keble.
9. (Gram.) Tense.
10. (Mus.) The measured duration of sounds; measure; tempo;
    rate of movement; rhythmical division; as, common or
    triple time; the musician keeps good time.
          Some few lines set unto a solemn time. --Beau. &
                                               Fl.
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.
{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}, {run}, or {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.

\Time\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Timed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Timing}.]
1. To appoint the time for; to bring, begin, or perform at
   the proper season or time; as, he timed his appearance
   rightly.
         There is no greater wisdom than well to time the
         beginnings and onsets of things.      --Bacon.
2. To regulate as to time; to accompany, or agree with, in
   time of movement.
         Who overlooked the oars, and timed the stroke.
                                               --Addison.
         He was a thing of blood, whose every motion Was
         timed with dying cries.               --Shak.
3. To ascertain or record the time, duration, or rate of; as,
   to time the speed of horses, or hours for workmen.
4. To measure, as in music or harmony.

\Time\, v. i.
1. To keep or beat time; to proceed or move in time.
         With oar strokes timing to their song. --Whittier.
2. To pass time; to delay. [Obs.]