Sentence:  Forty <WSD>years</WSD> ago an English writer , W. L. George , dealt with this subject in Eddies of the Day , and said , as an example , that ' Saint George for Merry England ' would not start a spirit half so quickly as ' Strike frog eating Frenchmen dead '' ' ! 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days