period

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations

   in England they call a period a stop

2. 2
   noun

   an amount of time

   a time period of 30 years

3. 3
   noun

   the end or completion of something

   Death put a period to my endeavors.

4. 4
   noun

   a unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed

   ganoid fishes swarmed during the earlier geological periods

5. 5
   noun

   A length of time.

   There was a period of confusion following the announcement.

6. 6
   noun

   A length of time in history seen as a single coherent entity; an epoch, era.

   Food rationing continued in the post-war period.

7. 7
   noun

   The punctuation mark “.” (indicating the ending of a sentence or marking an abbreviation).

   ‘You know, a period? The black spot at the end of a sentence — what do you call them over there?’

8. 8
   noun

   A decisive end to something; a stop.

   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.

Etymology

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”).