period
• noun 1 a length or portion of time. 2 a distinct portion of time with particular characteristics. 3 a major division of geological time, forming part of an era. 4 a lesson in a school. 5 (also menstrual period) a monthly flow of blood and other material from the lining of the uterus, occurring in women of child-bearing age when not pregnant. 6 chiefly N. Amer. a full stop. 7 Physics the interval of time between recurrences of a phenomenon. • adjective belonging to or characteristic of a past historical time: period furniture. — ORIGIN originally denoting the time during which something runs its course: from Greek periodos ‘orbit, recurrence, course’.
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