▪ I. year1
(jɪə(r))
Forms: 1 ᵹear, ᵹer, (ear, ᵹar), 2–5 ȝear, 2–5 (6 Sc.) ȝer, (3 ȝeor, ȝeær, ȝær, hier, 3–4 ȝier, 4 ȝiere), 3–6 yer, (4 yerr, yeier, yeire, ȝher, Sc. ȝheir), 4–5 ȝeer, (yher, yhere), 4–5 (6 Sc.) ȝere, yeir, 4–7 yere, yeer, 5 ȝeere, (ȝeyre, heire, heyre, here, ȝhere, eer, Sc. yheir, ȝhir, 5–6 yeyr), 5–7 yeere, 5–6 Sc. ȝeir (6–8 zeir), 6–7 yeare, (Sc. zeare, 7 Sc. zear), 6– year.
[OE. (WS.) ᵹéar str. n., also masc., (Anglian) ᵹér, = OFris. jâr, jêr (NFris. jûar, jôr, EFris. jir, îr, WFris. jier), OS. jâr, gêr, MLG. jâr, MDu. jaer (LG., Du. jaar), OHG., MHG. jâr (G. jahr), ON. ár (Sw. år, Da. aar), Goth. jēr:—*jǣrom, cognate with Zend yāre year, Gr. ὧρος year, ὥρα time of year, season, year, time of day, OSl. jarŭ spring (Russ., Pol., etc. jar spring, Serb. summer); cf. also L. hornus of this year (:—*ho-jōrinus). The normal OE. (flexionless) pl. ᵹéar is represented still in dialectal usage; for illustration of the history see 1 β.]
1. a. The time occupied by the sun in its apparent passage through the signs of the zodiac, i.e. (according to modern astronomy) the period of the earth's revolution round the sun, forming a natural unit of time (nearly = 3651/4 days); hence, a space of time approximately equal to this in any conventional practical reckoning (considered with respect to its length, without reference to its limits: cf. 3).
| c 960 æthelwold Rule St. Benet liii. (Schröer 1885) 85 To ᵹeares fæce tweᵹen ᵹebroðra into cumena cicenan gan. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 204 Hyt bynnan healfon ᵹeare ealne þone wætan ut atyhþ. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 53 Nu aȝe we..leten alse fele daȝes, alse hie diden ȝeres{ddd}þat we ne singeð þo blisfulle songes. c 1205 Lay. 217 Asscanius heold þis drihliche lond Daiȝes & ȝeres. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. 2/33 Twelf Monþe it was þare-afterward and half ȝer and more. a 1300 Cursor M. 4705 Be þe thrid yeir was gan, Vnnethes was þer beist left an. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 43 Þou schalt ȝelden hit a-ȝeyn at one ȝeeres ende. c 1400 St. Alexius (Laud 463) 58 More he lerned in on ȝer þan any of his oþer fere dide in ȝeres tene. 1428 E.E. Wills (1882) 80 Competent saleri for an hole here. 1456–70 Acts Parlt. Scot. (1875) XII. 27/2 Landis..quhilkis our predecessoris hes iosyt..ii hundreth ȝeirys befor thir days. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxx. 32 Gif evir my fortoun wes to be a freir, The dait thairof is past full mony a ȝeir. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. i. 13, I that I doe, and haue done any time these three hundred yeeres. 1637 Decree Star Chamb. x. in Milton's Areop. (Arb.) 14 No Haberdasher of small wares,..not hauing beene seuen yeeres apprentice to the trade. 1718–19 Swift Stella's Birthday Wks. 1841 I. 682/2 Stella this day is thirty-four (We shan't dispute a year or more). 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose vi, A family of four hundred years' standing. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes xviii, A gentleman..within a year or two on either side of thirty. 1884 Goldwin Smith in Contemp. Rev. Apr. 533 The idea that the United States are disposed to aggress upon Canada cannot survive a year's intercourse with their people. |
| β 900–30 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) Pref. 4 Þa feng æþelbryht his broþur to, & heold .v. ᵹear. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 20 An wif þe þolode blod-ryne twelf ᵹear. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 143 Þrie hier and six moneþes. c 1205 Lay. 3789 Ale þe twa ȝere. a 1225 Ancr. R. 218 Efter ueole ȝer. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 741 An hundreth and twenti yhere. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 588 And thre yeer in this wise his lif he ladde. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xi. 56 Poul was slain bifore the tyme of this exile bi almost xxxti. ȝeer. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 118 b, A thynge done perauenture a dosyn yere before. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 121 Mony ȝeir. 1553 Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 200 He had burned in Purgatorye a greate number of yeare. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 183 He will last you some eight yeare, or nine yeare. 1699 Bentley Phal. Pref. p. lxxxv, Sir Henry Spelman..used it lxxx Year since. 1701 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. VII. 101 The Curé is now stone blinde, & has been this 4 year. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxix, At last they didna 'gree at a' for twa or three year. |
b. Following and qualifying a date:
= a year before or after{ddd};
† was a year, a year ago. More commonly expressed by
twelvemonth (
twelvemonth 1 b).
| 1533 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 362 That..your pleasure maye be to suffer it to bere date from Mydsomer Was a yere. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Lives Emp. in Hist. Ivstine L l 5, The Emperor..tooke him prisoner vppon the same day twentye yeares, after that his father was taken prisoner by Charles the fift. a 1873 Wilberforce Ch. & Emp. (1874) 8 On the day year on which he had received our Lord's servants into his house. 1880 Disraeli Endym. xxxv, I should not be surprised..if he were to change his name again before this time year. |
c. In reference to the duration of some (usually painful) experience, as the sufferings of purgatory (always in reference to
years of pardon), a term of imprisonment, etc. (Usually
pl. with numeral.)
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 61 Vuele god us briseð,..oðer þurh orf qualm oðer þurh smerte ȝier [cf. G. schmerzenjahr]. 1357 Lay Folks Catech. (L.) 221 And so myȝt pardoun be gotun to sey yche day a lady sawter ȝhe ten þowsand ȝer in on ȝere. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 8 Þewenti þowzand ȝer of pardoun. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon x. 271 ‘Goodys curse have he for it’, sayd Charlemagne, ‘and an evyll yere.’ 1533 Gau Richt Vay 5 Sa mony thousand ȝeris of pardone pouers and remissione of sine and payne. 1874 W. S. Gilbert Charity 11, Mr. S... There is nothing to connect me with that matter... Ruth. Nothing?.. I've writin' of yours which is fourteen year [i.e. penal servitude], if it's a day. 1901 Scotsman 27 Feb. 11/1 The woman also told him that..if he was not careful she could get him fifteen years. |
d. pl. with numeral, expressing a person's age. (
Cf. 5.)
More usually either followed by
of age or
old, or omitted by ellipsis;
e.g. ‘a man fifty years of age’, or ‘fifty years old’, or ‘a man of fifty’. For
obs. variants of expression see
quots.| a 1300 Cursor M. 11315 O gode haliman..O sex scor yeire, hight symeon. 13.., etc. [see old a. 4 b]. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 83 Whan [Crist] was twelfe ȝeer olde. 1382 ― Matt. ii. 16 Alle the children,..fro two ȝeer age and with ynne. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 177, I wol no womman thritty yeer of age. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 148 The yongest of hem hadde of age Fourtiene yer. a 1425 Cursor M. 12386 (Trin.) Ihesu was þat tyme þore Of eiȝte yeer olde & more. c 1450 Merlin i. 15 It semed ij yere age or more. c 1480 Childe of Bristowe 37 in Hazl. E.P.P. l. 112 When the child was xij yere and more. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §67 Put theym bothe in one pasture, tyll they be foure or fyue yere olde. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. x. 14 Ane woundit man, of aucht and threttie ȝeiris. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iii. 73 At seauenteene yeeres, many their fortunes seeke But at fourescore, it is too late a weeke. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Table 62 b, The heire of ane Soccoman is of perfite age, quhen he is passed fivetene zeares. 1675 Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 32 Wine, that aged was eleven year. 1695 Sibbald Autobiog. (1834) 127 Four children..who died all before they were full four yeer old. 1847 Tennyson Princess v. 544 A nurse of ninety years. |
e. In special or idiomatic genitive or
attrib. uses, qualified by
a or a numeral.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xlix. (Z.) 287 Anniculus, anes ᵹeares cild oððe lamb. 1451, 1552 [see day n. 11]. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 8 The dyvysyon..dured in Fraunce continuelly by .xj. yeerday. 1559 Mirr. Mag. (1563) C iv, My enmy straunged but for a ten yeares daye. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1623) D iij, The Bee is but a yeares Bird, with some advantage. 1635 in Foster Crt. Min. E. Ind. Comp. (1907) 67 [At 4l. per hundred at] a yeares day of payment. 1654 Cromwell Sp. 12 Sept., A people that have been unhinged this twelve-years day, and are unhinged still. 1860 Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 181 She..is classed in Lloyd's Register as an eight years' ship. |
2. a. With qualifying words, denoting periods differing in length according to the manner in which they are computed in some scientific or conventional reckoning.
anomalistic year,
astronomical year,
canicular year,
civil year,
embolismic year,
equinoctial year,
Gregorian year,
Julian year,
lunar year,
lunisolar year,
natural year,
sidereal year,
solar year,
Sothic year,
tropical year,
vague (etc.) year: see the
adjs.| c 1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 316 Þæs ᵹeares daᵹas þe ᵹetelwise witan nemniað on lyden solaris annus, & on englisc þære sunnan ᵹear. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1595) 79 For the Romaines at the beginning had but 10. moneths in the yere: as some of the barbarous people make but three moneths for their yere. 1592 [see julian]. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. ii. i. xlii. (1597) 171 b, The Egyptian yeare containeth the iust number of 365. dayes. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Period, Victorian Period, an Interval of 532 Julian Years. 1757 J. Ferguson Astron. (ed. 2) xxi. §408 The Solar or Tropical Year, which contains 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 57 seconds; and is the only proper or natural year, because it always keeps the same seasons to the same months. 1841 Wilkinson Mann. & Cust. Anc. Egypt. xi. Ser. ii. I. 17 The sacred was the same as the solar or vague year. 1860 R. S. Poole in W. Smith Dict. Bible I. 505/1 There appear to have been at least three years in use with the Egyptians before the Roman domination, the Vague Year, the Tropical Year, and the Sothic Year. |
b. transf. Applied to a very long period or cycle (in chronology or mythology, or vaguely in poetic use).
cynic year: see
cynic a. 3.
great year (
Gr. µέγας ἐνιαυτός), the period (variously reckoned) after which all the heavenly bodies were supposed to return to their original positions, also called
Platonic year (see
Platonic a. 3 b); also
occas. used of certain cycles in modern chronology.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xxi. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 86/1 Chaunging of roundenes and cercles of sterres..þe chaungeing of hem falleþ in euerich xxxvj. M. ȝeere. And þis þe greete ȝere þat is the laste of alle þinges. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xi. 123 b, With the life of this bird [sc. the phœnix], the reuolution of the great yere is made, which diuers..say to consist, not in 540. yeres, but in 12950. yeres. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxvi. (1592) 402 If they had liued lesse than Sixe hundred yeares, their obseruations had bene in vaine, because the great yeare continueth so long. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. ii. i. xxxvii. (1597) 170 It is called of some the yeare of the worlde, and of some the great yeare of Plato, which contayneth according to Alphonsus, 49000. yeares..yet some affirme that the perfect yeare of the worlde contayneth but 36000 yeares. 1666 S. Parker Free & Impart. Censure (1667) 91, I will engage you shall never be one of their Disciples, though you should study them [sc. Platonists] to the revolution of their Great Year. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 583 On such day As Heav'ns great Year brings forth. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Antiq. i. iii. §9 Unless they had lived six hundred years: for the Great Year is compleated in that interval. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 116 The ‘great year,’ or geological cycle. 1871 Alabaster Wheel of Law 89 Five thousand angelic years, which are five hundred and eighty-six millions of the years of men. 1893 Huxley Romanes Lect. 36 The suggestion that the power and the intelligence of man can ever arrest the procession of the great year. |
c. The period of revolution of any planet round the sun (
planetary year).
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The Times wherein Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, Moon, &c. finish their Revolutions..are respectively call'd the Years of Jupiter, and Saturn, [etc.]. 1870 E. F. Burr Ecce Coelum iv. 104 According to the Neptunian calendar, it is only thirty-six years since the creation of Adam. |
3. A space of time, of the length stated in sense 1, with fixed limits.
a. esp. Such a space of time as reckoned in a calendar and denoted by a number in a particular era: commonly divided into twelve calendar months, in the ordinary (Roman) calendar beginning with January and ending with December, and consisting of 365 (or 366) days: see
calendar 1. (Distinctively called the
civil year.)
year of Christ,
† year of God (
Sc.),
year of our Lord (
lord n. 7 b),
year of grace (
grace n. 12),
† year of salvation (
salvation 1 c), a particular year of the Christian era (denoted by a number following).
Also with cardinal number following, denoting a period of a political regime as a means of calendar reckoning. Formerly also in
pl. with numeral, denoting a particular year of an era.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke ii. 41 His maᵹas ferdon ælce ᵹere to hierusalem. c 1132 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1132 Ðis ᵹear com Henri king to þis land. c 1205 Lay. 7220 He makede þane kalend þe dihteð þane moneð & þeȝer. a 1250 Owl & Night. 101 Þat oþer ȝer a faukun bredde. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 150 Two geuelengðhes timen her, And two solstices in ðe ȝer. 1357 Lay Folks Mass Bk. (1879) 118 The sacrement of the auter..whilk ilk man and woman..aught forto resceyve anes in the yhere. 1396 in Scott. Antiq. (1900) XIV. 217 The secvnde day of May the yher of our lorde mccc neynty and sex. a 1500 Bernard. de cura rei fam., etc. (E.E.T.S.) 32 Be the yheris of cryst comyn and gone, Fully nynty ande nyne. 1556 Lauder Tractate of Kyngis 19 The ȝeir of God Ane m.v.c.lvi. 1584 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. V. 64 The lettre from Richard Hutton written in September withowt yere. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 297 Stalions are to be seperated from Mares al the yeare long, except at the time of procreation. a 1646 J. Gregory Learned Tracts (1649) 164 The Christians did not use to reckon by the years of Christ, until the 532 of the Incarnation. Ibid. 165 That the first year Dionysian of Christ ought to bee reckoned the third. 1657 North's Plutarch, Add. Lives 4 In the yeer of the Salvation of all mankinde, three hundred thirty and nine. a 1700 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. IX. 335 [They] were al by holy obedience sent to Paris in the yeare 1652. 1788 Cowper Stanzas Bill of Mortality 2 Could I..as sure presage To whom the rising year shall prove the last. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvi, The Hielands hae been keepit quiet since the year aughty-nine—that was Killiecrankie year. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 36 Dr. Pauli..more than once gives the day and the month, without remembering to add the year of an event. 1933 E. Waugh Scoop ii. iv. 226 New Calendar. Year One of the Soviet State of Ishmaelia. 1971 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Aug. 1015/2 When he refers to ‘the language of the Year III’, he means that of the Year II [of the 1870 Commune]. 1972 R. Cobb Reactions to French Revolution i. 38 The coup d'état of Fructidor year V (Sept. 1797). 1980 P. Van Greenaway Dissident vii. 147 The Seventeen Revolution is Year One to our country. |
| c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 265 Abowte þe yeris of our Lord cccc vj. 1474 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 1 The ferd day of the moneth of August, the ȝere of God etc. lxxiij ȝeris. |
b. Such a space of time, with limits not necessarily coinciding with those of the civil year, forming a division of a period (or the whole period) of office, study, or other occupation, or of a person's lifetime (in these cases commonly with ordinal numeral, often with possessive noun or pronoun), or taken between definite dates for some special purpose,
e.g. taxation, payment of dividends, agricultural operations, etc.
| c 1000 Lambeth Ps. xxx. 11 Lif min and ᵹearas mine. c 1200 Ormin 9503, & ta wass Kayfasess ȝer Þe fifte ȝer bigunnenn. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 43 Þe fif & þrittuðe ȝer of his [sc. Maxence's] rixlinge. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1725) I. 10 In his elleuent ȝere com folk, þat misleued. c 1425 Cursor M. 3893 (Trin.) His ȝeres passed & seuen dayes Rachel he weddide þe story sayes. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 138 Þe v. yer of þe reine of kinge Edwarde. 1518 Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.) II. 162 Suche greate charges as they [sc. sheriffs]..must bere by Reason of the same Office after their yer Ended. 1611 B. Jonson Catiline iii. i, Which I'll perform..not for my year, But for my life. 1616 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. III. 34 There in your English Colledge,..he liued and heard his course of philosophie and almost two yeares of school diuinitie. 1631 Milton Sonn. vii. 2 How soon hath Time..Stoln on his wing my three and twentith yeer! 1635 A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 61 His living in obscurity from His twelfth to His thirtieth yeere. 1848 E. Creasy Eton Coll. 42 The relative positions which the boys of each year had occupied in the school. 1871 Smiles Charac. iii. (1876) 68 At the following Christmas examination he was the first of his year. |
(
a) Freq. with qualifying word, as
financial year,
fiscal year,
sabbatical year,
school year,
tax year: see under the first elements; also
academic year: in a school, college, etc., in the Northern hemisphere
usu. reckoned from the beginning of the autumn term until the end of the summer term.
| 1932 Handbk. Univ. Oxford 103 An overseas application made..a few weeks before the beginning of the academic year has little or no prospect of success. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 876/2 The master's degree is usually obtained for one academic year of graduate work. 1971 Morning Star 28 Dec. 4 Every September boys and girls..return to school..to begin a new academic year. 1983 Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 10 Nov. 218/2 The college proposes to elect a distinguished visitor to a Visiting Senior Research Fellowship during the academic year 1984–5. |
(
b) Used
attrib. or absol. with preceding ordinal numeral to denote a student at a particular stage of education. Also
collect.| 1851 B. H. Hall Coll. College Words & Customs 266 In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the title of Second-Year Men..is given to students during the second year of their residence at the University. 1894 A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets iii. 50 A fourth-year London Hospital student. 1913 J. Vaizey College Girl ii. xix. 268 One word in your ear! Don't ask a third-year girl to dance with you. 1927 R. Lehmann Dusty Answer iii. i. 124 I've done six hours every day this vac... Sibyl Jones has done ten hours every day... Third years ought to be more sensible. 1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night vii. 139 There are some oddities in the First Year... I expect the Third Year said the same about us..but..I should call the whole of our year pretty sound. 1966 E. H. Jones Margery Fry v. 44 Margery..was the obvious choice from the First Year when a committee was formed to arrange a garden-party in May 1895. 1979 D. Brierley Cold War iii. 26 Sociology second years from Nanterre. 1982 D. Clark Doone Walk viii. 179 He's a Bristol University third-year bloke. |
c. Such a space of time as arranged for religious observance in the Christian Church, with special seasons and holy days, beginning with Advent (but, formerly or locally, with other periods).
| a 1400 Wyclif's Bible (1850) IV. 683 The lessouns, pistlis, and gospels, that ben rad in the chirche al the ȝeer. 1657 Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer 106 We begin..our Ecclesiastical year (as to some accounts, though not as to the order of our service) with the glorious Annunciation of his Birth by angelical message. 1827 Keble (title) The Christian Year; Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the year. 1875 W. Smith's Dict. Chr. Antiq. I. 33/1 The first Sunday in Advent was not always the beginning of the liturgical year... The Antiphonarius of St. Gregory begins 1 Advent, and the Liber Responsalis with its Vigil. But the earlier practice was to begin the ecclesiastical year with the month of March, as being that in which our Lord was crucified (March 25). |
d. Such a period officially designated for special celebration or to focus public attention on a particular object of concern;
esp. Holy Year, a year so designated by the Pope, now
usu. once every 25 years, during which special Indulgences are granted and ceremonies held.
| 1699 J. Jackson Let. 25 Dec. in Lett. & Second Diary of Samuel Pepys (1932) 291 Wee made our entry here on Tuesday last, about 23 a clock, and were soon after deafned with the jangling of all the bells of the town, which for severall days, morning and evening, had proclaimed the approach of the Holy Year. 1776 Pius VI (title) Instructions & Directions for Gaining the Grand Jubilee of the Holy Year, celebrated at Rome anno 1775, and extended to the universal Church anno 1776, by his Holiness Pius VI. 1858 H. E. Wiseman Recoll. Last Four Popes ii. iv. 270 The practice has been, that on Ascension Day of the preceding year, the Pope promulgates the Holy Year, or Jubilee. 1900 H. Thurston Holy Year of Jubilee ix. 358 During the Holy Year, and also during the time of the extension of the Jubilee to the rest of Christendom, the Holy Father grants extraordinary powers to confessors. 1957 J. S. Huxley Relig. without Revelation (rev. ed.) ix. 205 Mass celebrations, like those of the Holy Year or the rallies and parades of Nazism and Communism. 1960 Stamp Mag. May 454/1 Commemorative. For World Refugee Year (Overprint on the rest of the 1958 World Exhibition stamps, with surcharge in aid of World Refugee Year 1960). 1965 Ibid. Apr. 244/1 The Australian Post Office will issue a stamp this year to commemorate International Co-operation Year. 1971 M. Lee Dying for Fun xliv. 212 He..decided to organize and launch Compassion Year. 1974 Times 7 Feb. 15/8 In the year 2073..many of the trees planted in Tree Planting Year 1973 will still be with us. 1983 Out of Town Dec. 52/4 Those of us who go to church already know that 1984 is Christian Heritage Year. |
4. a. As the period of the seasons, and of the growth of crops and vegetation in general;
spec. with reference to the vintage of wine. Hence
poet. connoting the phenomena of growth and decay.
| c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 222 Myn herte and alle my lymes been as grene As laurer thurgh the yeer is for to sene. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 29 Take Strawberys, & waysshe hem in tyme of ȝere in gode red wyne. 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 59 Make hillocks of molehils, in field thorough out, and so to remaine, till the yeere go about. 1637 Milton Lycidas 5 Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 18 As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed, And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze. 1781 Cowper Heroism 24 Vines, olives, herbage, forests disappear, And all the charms of a Sicilian year. 1842 Tennyson Day-Dream, Sleeping Palace i, The varying year with blade and sheaf Clothes and reclothes the happy plains. 1864 ‘J. Ward’ Diary 22 May in J. Burnett Useful Toil (1974) i. 85 Everything looks well in fields and gardens, with every prospect of a good fruit year. 1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xi. 206 Laurette..told the waiter to send it back. ‘If you haven't 1927, don't bother. That's the only good year left.’ 1967 ‘L. Black’ Two Ladies in Verona x. 161 A bottle of Mumm Cordon Rouge. I leave the year to you, but it'd better be good. 1984 Sunday Tel. 20 May 12/8, I bought the wine. 1964 was quite a good year. |
b. transf. A year's produce. (A literalism.)
| 1382 Wyclif Joel ii. 25, Y shal ȝeelde to you the ȝeris whom the locust eete. |
c. Each of the annual rings in the wood of a tree.
rare.
| 1708 Phil. Trans. XXVI. 163 The Circles, or (as they are commonly call'd) Years, are closer. |
5. a. pl. Age (of a person).
years of discretion: see
discretion 6 b.
| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 2381 Ᵹearum frod. c 1200 Ormin 10885 Himm birrþ beon fullwaxenn mann, & shadd fra childless ȝæress. a 1225 Juliana 5 Ȝunge mon of ȝeres. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12759 He was yong & yepe, of yeris but iyte. c 1500 Lancelot 1431 Euery gilt..Done frome he passith the ȝeris of Innocens. a 1529 Skelton Death K. Edw. IV 37, I se wyll, they leve that doble my ȝeris. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 231, I my selfe learned it of one of no small credite, of great yeares. 1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence, Hecyra v. i, I am of that yeares now that it were no reason to remit mine offence. c 1610 Women Saints (1886) 39 When she was of yeares fitt for marriage. 16.. Middleton, etc. Old Law ii. ii, Ere they be thought at years to welcome misery! 1624 Quarles Job Militant Medit. xvi, Dayes, produced to decrepit yeeres, Fild with experience, and grizly haires. c 1652 Milton Sonn. to Sir H. Vane 1 Vane, young in yeares, but in sage counsell old. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 1 Ever since I came to years, that I could tell my own inclinations. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xii. xiii, You may change your Opinion, if you live to my Years. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xiii, That Madame Cheron, at her years, should elect a second husband, was ridiculous. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. vi. 594 William, still a boy in years but a man in conduct and counsel. |
b. Full or mature age (
esp. in
phr. into years or
to years,
of years); old age (
esp. in
phr. in years = old, aged). Now
arch. or
poet. stricken, struck, strucken in years: see the
pa. pples.| 1579 E. K. in Spenser's Sheph. Cal. Feb., Emblem, Men of yeares haue no feare of god at al. 1581 G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 130 It is better for a man to chuse a young wife, then one in yeares. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. iii. 66 Till my infant-fortune comes to yeeres. 1605 First Pt. Jeronimo i. iii, Had not your reuerend yeares beene present heere, I should haue ponyarded the Villaynes bowels. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 392 If the horse be of yeeres. 1623 Cockeram ii, Vnder Yeeres, Minoritie, Nonage. 1633 Laud in Strafford's Lett. (1739) I. 111, I am in Years, and have had a troublesome Life. 1724 A. Collins Gr. Chr. Relig. 85 As they grew into Years. 1773 Burney Pres. St. Mus. Germany (1775) I. 329 Wagenseil is rather in years. 1813 Scott Trierm. i. viii, The Man of Years mused long and deep. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. iii. 284 He was slipping into years apace, And years make men restless. |
6. a. pl. (more or less vaguely): Age, period, times; with
poss. pron. time or period of life.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 218 Iðe uorme ȝeres [of monastic life] nis hit bute bal-pleouwe. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 215 Fram þe ȝouþe of my ȝer ȝerned ich haue Of wide werkus to wite. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xxxviii. 15, I shal eft thenke to thee alle my ȝeres, in the bitternesse of my soule. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. xii. (MS. Bodl. 263) 379/1 The lord of lordis, lord of longest yeeris. a 1542 Wyatt Penit. Ps. cii. xxiii, Take me not Lord away In myddes off my yeres. 1659 H. Plumptre in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 6 Wishing that all your yeares yet to come may passe over with mirth and jollityes. 1719 Watts Ps. xc, Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 28 Those who know any thing of the state of painting in this country of late years. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §8. 430 The last years of Elizabeth's reign were years of splendour and triumph abroad. |
b. In emphatic or hyperbolical use, chiefly in
pl.: A very long time. (
Cf. age n. 10 b.)
| 1692 Dryden Cleomenes i. i, Where hast thou been this long long year of hours? c 1759 J. Goff in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1918) 69 D{supr} Betty, I think every Day Absent from thee, Years. 1852 Thackeray Esmond ii. i, At certain periods of life we live years of emotion in a few weeks. 1853 M. Arnold Scholar Gipsy v, Once, years after, in the country lanes, Two scholars whom at college erst he knew Met him. |
7. a. Phrases. (See also senses 2, 3, 5.)
a year, formerly also
aȝere,
ayeer,
a-year [
a adj.2 4,
prep.1 8 b]: every year, yearly,
per annum.
† by (the) year [
by prep. 24 c]: in the same sense; rarely
† by years; also
by the year, from year to year (as a tenancy, etc.).
of the year: denoting things or persons considered to be outstanding examples of their kind in a particular year.
the year dot: see
dot n.1 4 c.
the year one: see
one numeral 4.
year after year [
after prep. 6],
year by year [
by prep. 25 c],
from year to year [
from prep. 3 b]: through a succession of years, either continuously or at some particular time in each year; every year successively; (hence
year-to-year adj. phr., occurring or done from year to year); also
† for year and year,
† from x year to x year,
x year and x year: every
x years;
† year, year, and year: on a stated occasion every year in succession.
year in (and) year out [
in adv. 2]: as each year begins and until it ends; continually throughout the year (and through successive years).
year-on-year adj. phr.: in
Economics, used with reference to a comparison of figures with corresponding ones for a date twelve months earlier.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 1133 Þar treon schulleþ a yer blowe. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxi. (Tollem. MS.), The fige tre..bereþ frute þries or fowre siþes aȝere. 1435 in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 417 Paid..the mairalte dew ffor the ground in the Groceres' Hall,..ipurchased ayeer..xl lb. 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 28 Christmas comes but once a yeere. a 1791 Wesley Wks. (1872) VIII. 327 Every worn-out Preacher shall receive..at least ten pounds a-year. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 291 Every man who had fifty pounds a year derived from land. 1861 Brougham Brit. Const. vi. (1862) 84 He pays {pstlg}10 a-year to the owner. |
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10212 Þai halud alle þe festes dere Þe Iues war wonto halu bi yere. 14.. Customs of Malton in Surtees Misc. (1890) 59, ij suttes by þe ȝer' to þe sayd cowrtt. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas i. v. (MS. Bodl. 263) 22/2 She..tauhte ther laboreris To sowe ther greyn & multeplie bi yeris. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour xvii. 23 A ladi..that might spende more thanne fyue hundred pounde bi yeere. 1544 tr. Littleton's Tenures iii. viii. 108 b, If such lande be worth xl. s. by yere. 1640 Habington Edw. IV 95 The reward of a hundred pound by the yeare during life. 1797 [see by prep. 24 c]. |
| 1883 H. James in Atlantic Monthly Sept. 316/1 Wherever the traveler goes, in France, he is reminded of this very honorable practice—the purchase by the government of a certain number of ‘pictures of the year’. 1936 L. P. Smith S.P.E. Tract xlvi. 220 The market⁓place where the books of the year are sold in large editions. 1968 ‘E. Lathen’ Stitch in Time vi. 46, I hope they haven't confused Wendell Martin with the GP of the year. 1983 Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 8/4 A 35-year-old mother..beat 523 competitors to win the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry's award as top secretary of the year. |
| 1611 Bible 2 Sam. xxi. 1 There was a famine..three yeeres, yeere after yeere. 1830 Tennyson Day-Dream, Sleeping Beauty i, Year after year unto her feet..The maiden's jet-black hair has grown. |
| c 1380 Antecrist in Todd Three Treat. Wyclif (1851) 131 Þe almes of þise bischoppes of so old synne is gedren for a certeyn rente ȝer bi ȝer in lecherie to lige. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxxiv. 82 In euery countre ben certeyne officers yere by yere chaunged for the more sykernes. 1539 Bible (Great) 1 Kings x. 25 [They] brought hym euery man his present, vesselles of syluer [etc.] yere by yere. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 5/2 Annales,..Chronicles: records of matters done yeare by yeare. 1793 Cowper A Tale 77 Be it your fortune, year by year, The same resource to prove. 1885 Sir H. Cotton in Law Rep. 30 Chanc. Div. 12 The accounts were delivered year by year to Mr. Norton. |
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 62 Fro ȝer to ȝer, fro seuene ȝer to seuene ȝer. 1436 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 175 Now wolle ye here how they in Cotteswolde Were wonte to borowe, or they schulde be solde, Here wolle gode, as for yere and yere [v.r. fro yere to yere]. Ibid. 176 Ffor yere and yere they schulde make paymente, And some tyme als too yere and too yere. c 1485 E.E. Misc. (Warton Club) 20 There as thou hast deyllyd from heyre to ȝere. 1539 Bible (Great) 1 Sam. ii. 19 Hys mother made hym a lytle coate, and brought it to him from yere to yere. 1594 R. Ashley tr. Loys le Roy 68 From three yeares to three. c 1630 Milton Sonn. i. 11 As thou from yeer to yeer hast sung too late For my relief. 1635 in Foster Crt. Min. E. India Comp. (1907) 29 At yeare, yeare, and yeare from the first of March next. Ibid. 93 Yeare, yeare and yeare, upon rebate. 1838 H. H. White Watkins' Princ. Conveyancing ii. (ed. 8) 28 note, A tenancy from year to year. 1845 A. Polson in Encycl. Metrop. II. 829/1 An estate from year to year may arise not only from express stipulation, but even from that general letting heretofore held to constitute an estate at will. 1855 I. Taylor Restor. Belief (1856) 218 A year-to-year reading of the Gospels. 1870 Huxley Lay Serm. etc. (1877) 251 That the energy radiated from year to year was supplied from year to year. 1962 Lebende Sprachen VII. 113/3 Year-to-year growth ratio. 1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants 203 The relative constancy of mean seed weight over a density range in this experiment is particularly interesting because the year to year variation in seed weight is quite large. |
| 1830 Massachusetts Spy 28 July 4/1 I've been to..school year in and year out. 1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women xv, You see other girls having splendid times, while you grind, grind, year in and year out. 1881 Mrs. J. H. Riddell Senior Partner III. 135 At Mr. M{supc}Cullagh's the same faces greeted customers year in year out. |
| 1976 Daily Tel. 20 July 1/5 It is hoped this will show a year on year rise in average earnings of between 14 and 15 per cent. 1982 Listener 16 Dec. 27/3 Over a ten-week period from September to November, the year-on-year decline recorded is equivalent to 12 per cent of individuals, or 7 per cent of households. |
b. Law. (
a)
year and day, a period constituting a term for certain purposes, in order to ensure the completion of a full year.
year, day, and waste, a prerogative whereby the sovereign was entitled to the profits for a year and a day of a tenement held by a person attainted of petty treason or felony, with the right of wasting the tenement: finally abolished in 1870.
Cf. MDu. jaer en dagh, a year and six months (and, locally, three days).
| c 1450 Merlin xxxiii. 682, I shall seche hym a yere and a day, but with-ynne that space I may knowe trewe tidinges. 1454 Rolls of Parlt. V. 274/2 In case the Maire, Constables, and Felawship aforesaid, commence not their accion..within the yer and day next after thoffence. 1514 Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 90 Vnder the pane of banyssing of the toune for ȝer and day. 1548 W. Stanford Kinges Prerog. xvi. (1567) 49 b, If the husband be atteinted of felonie the kinge shall haue the yeare, daye and wast of the lands of the wife. 1659 Hicks tr. Plowden's Abridgm. Comm. 212 So by the custom of many Mannors, one shall lose Copyhold if he claims it not within a year and a day after the death of his ancestor. a 1768 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. i. vi. §42. 1820 Scott Monast. xxv, When we are handfasted,..we are man and wife for a year and day; that space gone by, each may choose another mate. 1913 Act 3 & 4 Geo. V. c. 20 §103 When the sequestration is dated within year and day of any effectual adjudication. |
(
b)
years and terms, in full
books of years and terms, the year-books.
| 1528 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 239/1 In the yeres and termes called Hunnes case. 1883 Wharton's Law Lex., Year-books, or Books of years and terms. |
c. to see the New (Old) Year in (out) and
varr.: to stay up until after midnight on 31 December, to celebrate the start of a new year.
| 1840 Dickens Let. ? 18 Dec. (1969) II. 169 Will you dine with us on the last day of the old year—just to see it jollily out. 1875 L. Troubridge Life Amongst Troubridges (1966) 134 It's eleven o'clock now, and shall I tell you what we three are doing? Watching the Old Year out and the New Year in. 1916 M. Diver Desmond's Daughter iii. x. 227 Accepting an invitation to..‘see the New Year in’ with Thea. 1921 W. de la Mare Mem. of Midget xv. 99, I had written..an invitation to herself and Fanny to sit with me and ‘see in’ the New Year. 1939 H. Nicolson Diary 31 Dec. (1967) II. 52, I do not stay to watch the New Year in or the Old Year out. I write this diary at 11.45 and shall not wait. |
See also
goodyear, new-year,
to-year.
8. Comb., as
year-end,
year-spinner;
year-born,
year-counted,
year-hedged,
year-marked adjs.;
year-bird, a name for
Rhyticeros plicatus, a bird of the Malay archipelago, having a very large beak with a wrinkled growth on the top, which was believed to develop a fresh wrinkle every year;
year class, the individuals of a particular kind of animal (
usu. a fish) that were born in any one year;
year-count, among the N. American Indians, a series of figures each symbolizing the chief event of a year, usually painted on hide, and forming a record or chronicle (also called
winter-count);
year-ring, each of the rings formed by successive years' growth in the wood of a tree;
† year-tack, a lease for a year. See also
year-book, etc.
| 1873 Cassell's Bk. Birds III. 137 The plumage of the *Year Bird is principally black. |
| a 1882 Rossetti Soothsay i, Let no man ask thee of anything Not *yearborn between Spring and Spring. |
| 1910 J. Hjort in Publications de Circonstance No. 53. 18 Very characteristic in this respect are the analyses of samples of the typical Norse spring-herring, where the *year-class which formed its first winter-ring in 1904 preponderates largely over all the other year-classes. 1958 Jrnl. Marine Res. XVII. 505 The population [of sea-urchins] probably consists of four year-classes. 1967 [see recruit v. 3 e]. 1981 Trans. Amer. Fisheries Soc. CX. 185/1 By optimizing the yield from dominant year classes, greater yields from the fishery can be realized for all groups involved. |
| a 1896 D. G. Brinton in Keane Ethnol. (1896) 218 There is absolutely no similarity between the Tibetan calendar and the primitive form of the American, which was not intended as a *year-count, but as a ritual and formulary. |
| 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xliii, My own small *year-counted existence. |
| 1872 Hartley Yorksh. Ditties Ser. ii. 106 A nice little bit to fall back on i' th' Savings bank at th' *year end. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 4 Jan. 6/3 The year-end stocktaking results. |
| 1936 Dylan Thomas 25 Poems 41 The *year-hedged row is lame with flint, Blunt scythe and water blade. |
| 1873 Mrs. Whitney Other Girls xxiii, Old and *year-marked faces. |
| 1854 Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 58 The original form and structure of wood..are retained by the charcoal left by each, so that *year-rings and cells may be distinguished in wood-charcoal. |
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. ii. Babylon 512 One [language],..becomming old, Is cradle-toomb'd: another warreth bold With the *yeer-spinners. |
| 1532 Abst. Protocols Town Clerks Glasgow (1879) IV. 57 James Grahame sall haef ane *yeyrtak for the yeyr that he has gewin our to hyme. |
▪ II. year2 (
jɪə(r),
jɜː(r))
Repr.
dial. (chiefly
U.S.)
pronunc. of
ear n.1| 1863 Southern Confederacy (Atlanta, Georgia) 9 May 1/2 You should git the strait of it from one who seed it with his eyes, and hearn it with his years. 1886 West Somerset Word-Bk. 845 Year.., the ear. 1891 Dial. Hartland, Devonshire 122 Year (yur), the ear. 1929 W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 72, I wish I was young like I use to be, I'd tear them years right off your head. 1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men (1970) i. viii. 173 He took and galloped out in de middle of de road right in front of John's horse and laid his years back. |
▪ III. year obs. f. ere;
year whayle = erewhile.
| a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, i. Induct., What were those Puppits that hopt and skipt about me year whayle? |