/ jɪə(r); jɜː(r); NAmE jɪr/ noun ( abbr. yr )
1.
(also ˌcalendar ˈyear ) [ C ] the period from 1 January to 31 December, that is 365 or 366 days, divided into 12 months :
in the year 1865
I lost my job earlier this year.
Elections take place every year.
The museum is open all (the) year round (= during the whole year) .
—see also leap year , new year
2.
[ C ] a period of 12 months, measured from any particular time :
It's exactly a year since I started working here.
She gave up teaching three years ago.
in the first year of their marriage
the pre-war / war / post-war years (= the period before / during / after the war)
I have happy memories of my years in Poland (= the time I spent there) .
—see also gap year , light year , off year
3.
[ C ] a period of 12 months connected with a particular activity :
the academic / school year
the tax year
—see also financial year
4.
[ C ] ( especially BrE ) ( at a school, etc. ) a level that you stay in for one year; a student at a particular level :
We started German in year seven.
a year-seven pupil
The first years do French.
She was in my year at school.
5.
[ C , usually pl. ] age; time of life :
He was 14 years old when it happened.
She looks young for her years.
They were both only 20 years of age .
a twenty-year-old man
He died in his sixtieth year.
She's getting on in years (= is no longer young) .
6.
years [ pl. ] ( informal ) a long time :
It's years since we last met.
They haven't seen each other for years .
That's the best movie I've seen in years .
We've had a lot of fun over the years .
•
IDIOMS
- man, woman, car, etc. of the year
- not / never in a hundred, etc. years
- put years on sb
- take years off sb
- year after year
- year by year
- the year dot
- year in, year out
- year of grace | year of our Lord
- year on year
—more at advanced , decline verb , donkey , turn noun
••
WORD 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.