Word: period Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der. Ancient Greek περῐ́ (perĭ́) Proto-Indo-European *sed-der. Proto-Indo-European *sodós? Proto-Hellenic *hodós Ancient Greek ὁδός (hodós) Ancient Greek περῐ́οδος (perĭ́odos)lbor. Medieval Latin periodusbor. Middle French periodebor. Middle English periode English period From Middle English periode, from Middle French periode, from Medieval Latin periodus, from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, “circuit, orbit, a recurring interval of time, path around”), from περι- (peri-, “around”) + ὁδός (hodós, “way”). Displaced native Middle English tide (“interval, period, season”), from Old English tīd (“time, period, season”), as well as Middle English elde (“age, period”), from Old English ieldu (“age, period of time”). Pronunciation: /ˈpɪə.ɹi.əd/, /ˈpɪə.ɹɪ.əd/, /ˈpɪɚ.i.əd/, /ˈpɪɹ.i.əd/, /ˈpi.ɹɪd/ 1. A length of time. Example: There was a period of confusion following the announcement. Example: You'll be on probation for a six-month period. 2. A length of time in history seen as a single coherent entity; an epoch, era. Example: Food rationing continued in the post-war period. Example: With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. 3. The punctuation mark “.” (indicating the ending of a sentence or marking an abbreviation). Labels: Canada, Philippines, US Example: ‘You know, a period? The black spot at the end of a sentence — what do you call them over there?’ 4. A decisive end to something; a stop. Labels: figuratively Example: My sufferings, physical and mental, are more than I can bear, and when such small arrangements as I have to make for your future well-being are completed it is my intention to put a period to them. 5. The length of time during which the same characteristics of a periodic phenomenon recur, such as the repetition of a wave or the rotation of a planet. 6. Female menstruation; an episode of this. Labels: euphemistic Example: When she is on her period, she prefers not to go swimming. 7. Female menstruation; an episode of this. Labels: euphemistic 8. A section of an artist's, writer's (etc.) career distinguished by a given quality, preoccupation etc. Example: This is one of the last paintings Picasso created during his Blue Period. 9. Each of the divisions into which a school day is split, allocated to a given subject or activity. Example: I have math class in second period. 10. Each of the intervals, typically three, of which a game is divided. Example: Gretzky scored in the last minute of the second period. 11. One or more additional intervals to decide a tied game, an overtime period. Example: They won in the first overtime period. 12. The length of time for a disease to run its course. Labels: obsolete 13. An end or conclusion; the final point of a process, a state, an event, etc. Labels: archaic Example: As thus all gazed on hir, so she glaunced hir lookes on all, surueying them as curiously, as they noted hir exactly, but at last she set downe her period on the face of Alexis […] Example: And if my death might make this island happy, And prove the period of their tyranny, I would expend it with all willingness: 14. A complete sentence, especially one expressing a single thought or making a balanced, rhythmic whole. Labels: rhetoric Example: Periods are beautiful when they are not too long. Example: that such iron moulds as these shall have autority to knaw out the choicest periods of exquisitest books, and to commit such a treacherous fraud against the orphan remainders of worthiest men after death, the more sorrow will belong to that haples race of men, whose misfortune it is to have understanding. 15. A specific moment during a given process; a point, a stage. Labels: obsolete Example: The Death of Patroclus was the most eminent Period; and consequently the most proper Time for such Games. 16. A row in the periodic table of the elements. 17. A geochronologic unit of millions to tens of millions of years; a subdivision of an era, and subdivided into epochs. Example: These fossils are from the Jurassic period. Example: Fossils are particularly well described from the Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and have been found in the USA, England, Russia, Lebanon and Germany. Sites such as Lyme Regis in Dorset have particularly yielded number of Jurassic “squid” ink sacs and nodules (Doguzhaeva et al. 2004). 18. A Drosophila gene, the gene product of which is involved in regulation of the circadian rhythm. Example: Polyclonal antibodies were prepared against the period gene product, which influences biological rhythms in D. melanogaster, by using small synthetic peptides from the per sequence as immunogens. 19. Two phrases (an antecedent and a consequent phrase). 20. The length of an interval over which a periodic function, periodic sequence or repeating decimal repeats; often the least such length.