See Also: epoch(medicine)
epoch(dictionary)
epoch(encyclopedia)
New Epoch(tourism)
epoch(dictionary)
Eocene Epoch(encyclopedia)
genesee epoch(medicine)
epoch-making(dictionary)
medina epoch(medicine)
epoch (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)

epoch (iou)



epoch noun. Also (earlier) epocha. E17.
[mod. Latin epocha from Greek epokhe stoppage, fixed point of time, from epekhein stop, take up a position, formed as EPI- + ekhein hold, be in a certain state.]
I. A point in time.
The initial point in a system of chronology; a date from which succeeding years are numbered. Now rare. E17.
The date of origin of a situation, institution, etc.; an event marking such a date. M17-E19.
The beginning of a distinctive period in the history of something or someone. Cf. ERA 3. M17.
L. M. Montgomery I've had a splendid time...It marks an epoch in my life.
The date or time of an event. Now rare exc. as below. M17.
T. Jefferson Inform him what..you expect to deliver, with the epochs of delivery.
b. A point in time defined by the occurrence of particular events or by the existence of a particular state of affairs. E18.
E. R. Pitman It was an epoch never to be forgotten..when she commenced labouring in Joppa.
c. Astronomy. The point in time at which a particular phenomenon takes place; an arbitrarily fixed date relative to which planetary or stellar measurements are expressed. E18.
II. A period of time.
Orig., a chronological period characterized by the numbering of years from a particular noteworthy event (cf. ERA 1a). Now = ERA 1b. E17.
H. J. Laski No man was so emphatically representative of his epoch as Adam Smith. D. Lessing Poor people lived there as the rich have done in previous epochs.
Geology. A division of geological time; spec. a subdivision of a period, corresponding to a stratigraphic series. E19.
Scientific American The basis for dividing geologic time into eras, periods and epochs. W. C. Putnam The Pliocene Epoch, which merged with the Pleistocene, saw the rise of the living..animals of the Earth.
Physics. The time interval between the zero of time measurement and the zero of a simple harmonic motion; (also epoch angle) the angular separation corresponding to this. L19.
Comb.: epoch angle: see sense 7 above; epoch-making adjective such as marks the beginning of a new epoch; historic, of major importance; remarkable.