year — ODE · Shobdo

year /jɪə

, jəː

▸ noun

1 the time taken by the earth to make one revolution around the sun.

The length of the year depends on the manner of calculation. For ordinary purposes the important period is the solar or tropical year, which is the time between successive spring or autumn equinoxes, or winter or summer solstices, roughly 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds in length. This period thus marks the regular cycle of the seasons.

2 (also calendar year or civil year) the period of 365 days (or 366 days in leap years) starting from the first of January, used for reckoning time in ordinary circumstances.

▪ a period of twelve months measured from a point other than 1 January:

the year starting July 1

it's almost a year since he arrived

the farming year.

▪ [with adjective] a year regarded in terms of the quality of something produced:

single-vineyard wine of a good year.

▪ a period similar to a year used for reckoning time according to other calendars:

the Muslim year.

3 (one's years) one's age or time of life:

she had a composure well beyond her years.

4 (years) informal a very long time; ages:

it's going to take years to put that right.

5 a set of students grouped together as being of roughly similar ages, mostly entering a school or college in the same academic year:

most of the girls in my year were leaving at the end of the term.

– PHRASES

a year and a day the period specified in some legal matters to ensure the completion of a full year.

in the year of our Lord — (also in the year of grace —)
in the year — AD:

I was born in the year of our Lord 1786.

[ year of grace, suggested by medieval Latin anno gratiae, used by chroniclers]

— of the year
a person or thing chosen as outstanding in a specified field or of a specified kind in a particular year:

the sports personality of the year.

put years on
make (someone) feel or look much older:

the daily grind of moneymaking can put years on a person.

take years off
make (someone) feel or look much younger:

this amazing confidence-boosting transformation can take years off you.

year in, year out
continuously or repeatedly over a period of years:

they rented the same bungalow year in, year out.

– ORIGIN Old English gē(a)r, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch jaar and German Jahr, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek hōra ‘season’.