MOMENT

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin ~um movement, particle sufficient to turn the scales, ~, from movēre to move Date: 14th century 1. a minute portion or point of time ; instant , a comparatively brief period of time, 2. present time , a time of excellence or conspicuousness , importance in influence or effect , a cause or motive of action, a stage in historical or logical development, 6. tendency or measure of tendency to produce motion especially about a point or axis, the product of quantity (as a force) and the distance to a particular axis or point, 7. the mean of the n th powers of the deviations of the observed values in a set of statistical data from a fixed value, the expected value of a power of the deviation of a random variable from a fixed value, see: importance