Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete, medicine) The length of time for a disease to run its course.

An end or conclusion; the final point of a process etc.

* , II.3:

All comes to one period , whether man make an end of himselfe, or whether he endure it.

* Milton

So spake the archangel Michael; then paused, / As at the world's great period .

* Jeremy Taylor

evils which shall never end till eternity hath a period

* Shakespeare

This is the period of my ambition.

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

* , chapter=7

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=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.}}

(rhetoric) A complete sentence, especially one expressing a single thought or making a balanced, rhythmic whole.

* Ben Jonson

Periods are beautiful when they are not too long.

* 1644 , (John Milton), Aeropagitica :

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.

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

A length of time.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 14, author=Steven Morris, work=Guardian

, title= Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , passage=Philip Miles, defending, said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."}}

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.

(obsolete) A specific moment during a given process; a point, a stage.

* 1720 , Alexander Pope, translating Homer, Iliad , Book IV (note 125):

The Death of Patroclus was the most eminent Period ; and consequently the most proper Time for such Games.

Female menstruation.

A section of an artist's, writer's (etc.) career distinguished by a given quality, preoccupation etc.

Each of the divisions into which a school day is split, allocated to a given subject or activity.

(chemistry) A row in the periodic table of the elements.

(geology) A subdivision of an era, typically lasting from tens to hundreds of millions of years, see .

(genetics) A Drosophila gene which gene product is involved in regulation of the circadian rhythm.

* {{quote-journal

, title= Antibodies to the period gene product of drosophila reveal diverse tissue distribution and rhythmic changes in the visual system , volume=1, issue=2, page=141, year=1988, date=1 April, journal=Neuron , passage=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.}}

* 2009 {{cite web

, date=20 November 2009 citation , title=Gene Dmel\per, format=Gene Report (database record) , work=FlyBase, publisher=The FlyBase Consortium , language=en, accessdate=7 December, accessyear=2009}}

(music) Two phrases (an antecedent]] and a [[consequent phrase, consequent phrase).

(math) One of several similar sets of figures or terms usually marked by points or commas placed at regular intervals, as in numeration, in the extraction of roots, and in recurring decimals.

Noun

(of time)

Noun

(en noun)

A favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance.

* Bible, Rom. vii. 11

Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me.

* Waller

I'll take the occasion which he gives to bring / Him to his death.

The time when something happens.

*, chapter=13

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them.}}

An occurrence or state of affairs which causes some event or reaction; a motive or reason.

Something which causes something else; a cause.

* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 130:

it were too vile to say, and scarce to be beleeved, what we endured: but the occasion was our owne, for want of providence, industrie and government [...].

(obsolete) An occurrence or incident.

A particular happening; an instance or time when something occurred.

*{{quote-news, year=2013, date=April 9, author=Andrei Lankov, title=Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff., work=New York Times citation

, passage=In the last two decades, North Korea has on various occasions conducted highly provocative missile and nuclear tests and promised to turn Seoul into a sea of fire. }}

Need; requirement, necessity.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.}}

* Jeremy Taylor

after we have served ourselves and our own occasions

* Burke

when my occasions took me into France

A special event or function.

A reason or excuse; a motive; a persuasion.

* Spenser

Whose manner was, all passengers to stay, / And entertain with her occasions sly.