leap year

leap year
1. (in the Gregorian calendar) a year that contains 366 days, with February 29 as an additional day: occurring in years whose last two digits are evenly divisible by four, except for centenary years not divisible by 400.
2. a year containing an extra day or extra month in any calendar. Cf. common year.
[1350-1400; ME lepe yere]

* * *

      year containing some intercalary period, especially a Gregorian (Gregorian calendar) year having a 29th day of February instead of the standard 28 days. The astronomical year, the time taken for the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun, is about 365.242 days, or, to a first approximation, 365.25 days. To account for the odd quarter day, an extra calendar day is added every four years, as was first done in 46 BC, with the establishment of the Julian calendar. Over many centuries, the difference between the approximate value 0.25 day and the more accurate 0.242 day accumulates significantly. In the Gregorian calendar now in general use, the discrepancy is adjusted by adding the extra day to only those century years exactly divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600, 2000). For still more precise reckoning, every year evenly divisible by 4,000 (i.e., 16,000, 24,000, etc.) may be a common (not leap) year.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Leap Year — est un film américain d Anand Tucker dont le tournage a commencé en mars 2009 et dont la sortie est prévue en 2010[1]. Sommaire 1 Synopsis 2 Fiche technique …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Leap year — Year Year, n. [OE. yer, yeer, [yogh]er, AS. ge[ a]r; akin to OFries. i?r, g?r, D. jaar, OHG. j[=a]r, G. jahr, Icel. [=a]r, Dan. aar, Sw. [*a]r, Goth. j?r, Gr. ? a season of the year, springtime, a part of the day, an hour, ? a year, Zend y[=a]re… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Leap year — Bissextile; a year containing 366 days; every fourth year which leaps over a day more than a common year, giving to February twenty nine days. See {Bissextile}. [1913 Webster] Note: Every year whose number is divisible by four without a remainde …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • LEAP YEAR — LEAP YEAR, refers to the 13 month year in the jewish calendar . Leap year results from the intercalation (Heb. עִבּוּר, pregnancy ) of an additional month, called Adar Sheni ( Second Adar ) or Ve Adar ( and Adar ). Adar, the regular 12th month,… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • leap year — late 14c., from LEAP (Cf. leap) (v.) + YEAR (Cf. year). So called from its causing fixed festival days, which normally advance one weekday per year, to leap ahead one day in the week …   Etymology dictionary

  • leap year — leap years N COUNT A leap year is a year which has 366 days. The extra day is the 29th February. There is a leap year every four years …   English dictionary

  • leap year — n. a year of 366 days in the Gregorian calendar, occurring every fourth year: the additional day, Feb. 29, makes up for the time lost annually when the approximate 3651/ 4 day cycle is computed as 365 days: a leap year is a year whose number is… …   English World dictionary

  • leap year — ► NOUN ▪ a year, occurring once every four years, which has 366 days including 29 February as an intercalary day. ORIGIN probably from the fact that feast days after February in a leap year fell two days later than in the previous year, rather… …   English terms dictionary

  • Leap Year — Título Año bisiesto (Chile)/¿Te casas Conmigo? (Brasil)/Tenías que ser tú (España)/ Propuesta en Año Bisiesto (Argentina) Ficha técnica Dirección Anand Tucker Música John Williams …   Wikipedia Español

  • leap year — n [Date: 1300 1400; Origin: Perhaps because a date in such a year jumps one day ahead of the day on which it would otherwise have fallen] a year, which happens every fourth year, when February has 29 days instead of 28 …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • leap year — leap′ year n. 1) hor (in the Gregorian calendar) a year that contains 366 days, with February 29 as an additional day: occurring in years whose last two digits are evenly divisible by four, except for centenary years not divisible by 400 2) hor a …   From formal English to slang

Share the article and excerpts

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