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year

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The definition of a year is a period of time equal to 365 days, 12 months or 52 weeks, or a year is 12 lunar months in the Jewish calendar.

(noun)

An example of a year is January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012.
An example of a year in the Jewish calendar is the current year, 5772.

See year in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

1. a period of 365 days (in a leap year, 366 days) divided into 12 months and regarded in the Gregorian calendar as beginning Jan. 1 and ending the following Dec. 31
2. a period of more or less the same length in other calendars
the period (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds of mean solar time) spent by the sun in making its apparent passage from vernal equinox to vernal equinox: the year of the seasons
also tropical year or equinoctial year or solar year
the period (365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 9.54 seconds of mean solar time) spent by the sun in its apparent passage from a fixed star and back to the same position again: it is the true period of the earth's revolution, and the difference in time between this and the tropical year is due to the precession of the equinoxes
also sidereal year
a period of 12 lunar months, as in the Jewish calendar
also lunar year
the period of time occupied by any planet in making one complete revolution from perihelion to perihelion: for the earth this period is 365 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, and 53 seconds: it is slightly longer than the sidereal year due to the extra time needed to reach an advancing perihelion, the lag being caused by the gravitational pull of the other planets
also anomalistic year
a period of 12 calendar months reckoned from any date: a year from today
a calendar year of a specified number in a particular era: the year 500
a particular annual period of less than 365 days: a school year
1. age: old for his years
2. time; esp., a long time: he died years ago

Origin: ME yere < OE gear, akin to Ger jahr < IE *yēro-, year, summer (> Gr hōros, time, year, OSlav jara, spring) < base *ei-, to go (> L ire, to go): basic sense “that which passes”

See year in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

a. The period of time during which Earth completes a single revolution around the sun, consisting of 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 12 seconds of mean solar time. In the Gregorian calendar the year begins on January 1 and ends on December 31 and is divided into 12 months, 52 weeks, and 365 or 366 days. Also called calendar year.
b. A period approximately equal to a year in other calendars.
c. A period of approximately the duration of a calendar year: We were married a year ago.
A sidereal year.
A solar year.
A period equal to the calendar year but beginning on a different date: a tax-reckoning year; a farming year.
A specific period of time, usually shorter than 12 months, devoted to a special activity: the academic year.
years Age, especially old age: I'm feeling my years.
years An indefinitely long period of time: it's been years since we saw her.