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MEAN TIME
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(astronomy) time based on the motion of the mean sun (an imaginary sun moving uniformly along the celestial equator)
Synonyms:
mean solar time; mean time
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Hypernyms ("mean time" is a kind of...):
time unit; unit of time (a unit for measuring time periods)
Domain category:
astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)
Context examples:
The only inconvenience is, that none of these projects are yet brought to perfection; and in the mean time, the whole country lies miserably waste, the houses in ruins, and the people without food or clothes.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
In the mean time he ordered three thousand of his choicest troops (who then attended him) to surround me at a distance, with their bows and arrows just ready to discharge; but I did not observe it, for mine eyes were wholly fixed upon his majesty.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
In the mean time the emperor held frequent councils, to debate what course should be taken with me; and I was afterwards assured by a particular friend, a person of great quality, who was as much in the secret as any, that the court was under many difficulties concerning me.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
In the mean time I was not able to forbear groaning and shedding tears, and turning my head towards my sides; letting him know, as well as I could, how cruelly I was hurt by the pressure of his thumb and finger.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
They spoke to me with great humanity, and said, they were sure the captain would carry me gratis to Lisbon, whence I might return to my own country; that two of the seamen would go back to the ship, inform the captain of what they had seen, and receive his orders; in the mean time, unless I would give my solemn oath not to fly, they would secure me by force.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
He added, how I had endeavoured to persuade him, that in my own and other countries, the Yahoos acted as the governing, rational animal, and held the Houyhnhnms in servitude; that he observed in me all the qualities of a Yahoo, only a little more civilized by some tincture of reason, which, however, was in a degree as far inferior to the Houyhnhnm race, as the Yahoos of their country were to me; that, among other things, I mentioned a custom we had of castrating Houyhnhnms when they were young, in order to render them tame; that the operation was easy and safe; that it was no shame to learn wisdom from brutes, as industry is taught by the ant, and building by the swallow (for so I translate the word lyhannh, although it be a much larger fowl); that this invention might be practised upon the younger Yahoos here, which besides rendering them tractable and fitter for use, would in an age put an end to the whole species, without destroying life; that in the mean time the Houyhnhnms should be exhorted to cultivate the breed of asses, which, as they are in all respects more valuable brutes, so they have this advantage, to be fit for service at five years old, which the others are not till twelve.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
