Period

Period Pe"ri*od, n. [L. periodus, Gr. ? a going round, a way round, a circumference, a period of time; ? round, about + ? a way: cf. F. p['e]riode.] 1. A portion of time as limited and determined by some recurring phenomenon, as by the completion of a revolution of one of the heavenly bodies; a division of time, as a series of years, months, or days, in which something is completed, and ready to recommence and go on in the same order; as, the period of the sun, or the earth, or a comet. [1913 Webster]

2. Hence: A stated and recurring interval of time; more generally, an interval of time specified or left indefinite; a certain series of years, months, days, or the like; a time; a cycle; an age; an epoch; as, the period of the Roman republic. [1913 Webster]

How by art to make plants more lasting than their ordinary period. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

3. (Geol.) One of the great divisions of geological time; as, the Tertiary period; the Glacial period. See the Chart of {Geology}. [1913 Webster]

4. The termination or completion of a revolution, cycle, series of events, single event, or act; hence, a limit; a bound; an end; a conclusion. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

So spake the archangel Michael; then paused, As at the world's great period. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Evils which shall never end till eternity hath a period. --Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster]

This is the period of my ambition. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5. (Rhet.) A complete sentence, from one full stop to another; esp., a well-proportioned, harmonious sentence. ``Devolved his rounded periods.'' --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

Periods are beautiful when they are not too long. --B. Johnson. [1913 Webster]

Note: The period, according to Heyse, is a compound sentence consisting of a protasis and apodosis; according to Becker, it is the appropriate form for the co["o]rdinate propositions related by antithesis or causality. --Gibbs. [1913 Webster]

6. (Print.) The punctuation point [.] that marks the end of a complete sentence, or of an abbreviated word. [1913 Webster]

7. (Math.) One of several similar sets of figures or terms usually marked by points or commas placed at regular intervals, as in numeration, in the extraction of roots, and in circulating decimals. [1913 Webster]

8. (Med.) The time of the exacerbation and remission of a disease, or of the paroxysm and intermission. [1913 Webster]

9. (Mus.) A complete musical sentence. [1913 Webster]

{The period}, the present or current time, as distinguished from all other times. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Time; date; epoch; era; age; duration; limit; bound; end; conclusion; determination. [1913 Webster]