time zone

time zone
time zone attested by 1885.
Previous to 1883 the methods of measuring time in the United States were so varied and so numerous as to be ludicrous. There were 50 different standards used in the United States, and on one road between New York and Boston, whose actual difference is 12 minutes, there were three distinct standards of time. Even small towns had two different standards one known as "town" or local time and the other "railroad" time.
... At noon on November 18, 1883, there was a general resetting of watches and clocks all over the United States and Canada, and the four great time zones, one hour apart, into which the country was divided came into being. So smoothly did the plan work that the general readjustment was accomplished without great difficulty and it has worked satisfactorily ever since. ["Railroad Trainman," 1909]

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • time zone — ➔ zone1 * * * time zone UK US noun [C] ► one of the twenty four parts into which the world is divided. The time in each zone is one hour earlier than in the zone east of it, and one hour later than in the zone west of it: »Managing your work from …   Financial and business terms

  • time zone — time zones also time zone N COUNT A time zone is one of the areas into which the world is divided where the time is calculated as being a particular number of hours behind or ahead of GMT …   English dictionary

  • Time Zone — ist ein Computer Adventure Spiel, das von Roberta Williams für die Firma On Line Systems (heute Sierra Entertainment) im Jahre 1982 für den Apple II und Apple II+ entwickelt wurde. Es handelt sich dabei um sehr umfangreiches Adventurespiel, das… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • time zone — n one of the 24 areas that the world is divided into, each of which has its own time …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • time zone — time ,zone noun count * one of the areas that the world is divided into for measuring time …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • time zone — time′ zone art at time hor one of the 24 regions or divisions of the globe approximately coinciding with meridians at successive hours from the observatory at Greenwich, England • Etymology: 1880–85 …   From formal English to slang

  • time zone — ☆ time zone n. any of the 24 longitudinal regions of the earth, each occupying 15 degrees and having a mean solar time one hour greater than that of the neighboring region to the west …   English World dictionary

  • Time zone — Timezone and TimeZone redirect here. For other uses, see Time zone (disambiguation). Local time redirects here. For the mathematical concept, see Local time (mathematics). This article is about time zones in general. For a list of time zones by… …   Wikipedia

  • time zone — noun any of the 24 regions of the globe (loosely divided by longitude) throughout which the same standard time is used • Hypernyms: ↑zone, ↑geographical zone * * * noun : one of 24 longitudinal zones into which the world has been divided for… …   Useful english dictionary

  • time zone —    1. a unit representing the difference in time between a given location and Universal Time. Under ISO 8601 (see previous entry), the difference is positive if the local time is later than Universal Time and negative if it is earlier; this means …   Dictionary of units of measurement

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”