YEAR.

Heb. shanah, meaning “repetition” or “revolution” (Gen. 1:14; 5:3). Among the ancient Egyptians the year consisted of twelve months of thirty days each, with five days added to make it a complete revolution of the earth round the sun. The Jews reckoned the year in two ways, (1) according to a sacred calendar, in which the year began about the time of the vernal equinox, with the month Abib; and (2) according to a civil calendar, in which the year began about the time of the autumnal equinox, with the month Nisan. The month Tisri is now the beginning of the Jewish year.

the highest ordinary division of time. Two years were known to, and apparently used by, the Hebrews.

YEAR. The Jewish year had two commencements. The religious year began with the month Abib (April), the civil with Tisri (October). The year was solar. There were two seasons, summer and winter, Ps 74:17; Zech 14:8; Jer 36:22; Am 3:15. The months were lunar, of thirty days each, and twelve in number, although a thirteenth was sometimes necessarily intercalated. It was called Ve-adar. The festivals, holy days, and fasts of the year were as follows: The feast of the Passover, the 14th day of the first month. The feast of unleavened bread, in the same month, from the 15th to 21st, inclusive. The feast of Pentecost, called also feast of harvest and "day of first fruits," on the day which ended seven weeks, counted from the 16th of the first month, that day being excluded. The feast of trumpets, on the first day of the seventh month. The day of atonement, a fast, on the 10th day of the seventh month. The feast of tabernacles, or of gathering, from the 15th to the 22d day, inclusive, of the seventh month. The post-Mosaic festivals are Purim, in the twelfth month of Adar, 13th to 15th day, and dedication, on the 25th day of the ninth month.

YEAR, SABBAT'ICAL. In the seventh year all agricultural labor was suspended, and spontaneous productions were left to the poor, the traveller, and the wild beasts. Lev 25:1-7. This was (1) For the sake of the ground; (2) For the preservation of wild beasts; and (3) To make the people provident and sensible of dependence. The people could fish, hunt, take care of bees and flocks, repair buildings, manufacture clothes, and carry on commerce. This year was religiously observed, Deut 31:10-13. There was, moreover, a general release-, no debt to a Jew was allowed to stand, but must be forgiven. Deut 15:1-11. It has been inferred from 2 Chr 26:21 that this sabbatical year was neglected during seventy Sabbatical cycles - i.e., four hundred and ninety years. Whether it was ever observed is not a matter of certain record, but there is an allusion to it in 1 Mace. 6:49, and Luke 6:1 has been interpreted to refer to the "first Sabbath of the second year in the cycle."

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The time of the apparent revolution of the sun trough the ecliptic; the period occupied by the earth in making its revolution around the sun, called the astronomical year; also, a period more or less nearly agreeing with this, adopted by various nations as a measure of time, and called the civil year; as, the common lunar year of 354 days, still in use among the Mohammedans; the year of 360 days, etc. In common usage, the year consists of 365 days, and every fourth year (called bissextile, or leap year) of 366 days, a day being added to February on that year, on account of the excess above 365 days (see Bissextile). Of twenty year of age he was, I guess. Chaucer.

2. The time in which any planet completes a revolution about the sun; as, the year of Jupiter or of Saturn.

3. Age, or old age; as, a man in years. Shak. Anomalistic year, the time of the earth's revolution from perihelion to perihelion again, which is 365 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, and 48 seconds. -- A year's mind (Eccl.), a commemoration of a deceased person, as by a Mass, a year after his death. Cf. A month's mind, under Month. -- Bissextile year. See Bissextile. -- Canicular year. See under Canicular. -- Civil year, the year adopted by any nation for the computation of time. -- Common lunar year, the period of 12 lunar months, or 354 days. -- Common year, each year of 365 days, as distinguished from leap year. -- Embolismic year, or Intercalary lunar year, the period of 13 lunar months, or 384 days. -- Fiscal year (Com.), the year by which accounts are reckoned, or the year between one annual time of settlement, or balancing of accounts, and another. -- Great year. See Platonic year, under Platonic. -- Gregorian year, Julian year. See under Gregorian, and Julian. -- Leap year. See Leap year, in the Vocabulary. -- Lunar astronomical year, the period of 12 lunar synodical months, or 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 36 seconds. -- Lunisolar year. See under Lunisolar. -- Periodical year. See Anomalistic year, above. -- Platonic year, Sabbatical year. See under Platonic, and Sabbatical. -- Sidereal year, the time in which the sun, departing from any fixed star, returns to the same. This is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 9.3 seconds. -- Tropical year. See under Tropical. -- Year and a day (O. Eng. Law), a time to be allowed for an act or an event, in order that an entire year might be secured beyond all question. Abbott. -- Year of grace, any year of the Christian era; Anno Domini; A. D. or a. d.