ˈyi(ə)r, ˈyiə noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English yeer, yere, from Old English gēar; akin to Old High German jār year, Old Norse ār, Gothic jer, Greek hōros year, hōra season of the year, time of day, hour, Avestan yārə year, Latin ire to go — more at issue
1.
a. : the period of about 365 1/4 solar days required for one revolution of the earth around the sun and generally indicated by the return of the sun to the same part of the sky or by the recurrence of the seasons
b. : the time required for the apparent sun to return to an arbitrary fixed or moving reference point in the sky (as the March equinox for the tropical year or a point among the stars for the sidereal year)
c. : the time in which any planet completes a revolution about the sun
the year of Jupiter
the year of Saturn
2.
a. : a cycle in the Gregorian calendar having 365 or 366 days divided into 12 months beginning with January and ending with December — compare leap year
b. : a major cycle of days in a calendar usually having some correspondence with the solar or the lunar year or with both
c. : a period of time equal to one year of the Gregorian calendar but beginning at a different time
within a year
a year from today
— see fiscal year
3. : academic year
4.
a. : a calendar year that belongs to a particular era or system of reckoning or bears a specified number in the sequence of the years of such an era
died in the year of Our Lord 1900
the time was the year of the hegira 300
— compare anno domini , anno lucis
b. : a numbered calendar year
omitted to add the year when he dated the letter
5.
a. : 12 months of punishment or imprisonment
the judge gave him 15 years
b. : a remission of temporal or purgatorial punishment for sin to an extent equivalent to one year of canonical penance in the Roman Catholic Church — compare indulgence 1
6. years plural : a time or era marked in some special way : a period taken as a unit notable for a particular characteristic
years of plenty
7.
a. : 12 months that constitute a measure of age or duration
her 21st year
a man of 80 years
— often used in combination
a year -old child
a 50- year record
b. years plural : age
a man in years but a child in understanding
c. years plural : old age
he was slipping into years apace — Robert Browning
8. : the annual cycle of the seasons in which there is a recurrent period of the growth, ripening, and decay of vegetation
9. : any of various sometimes vaguely delimited periods of time longer than a calendar year
the international geophysical year was fixed at 18 months
— see great year
10. : class 2e
he was in my year at college