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Jiffy - Definition and Overview |
| Related Words: Breathing, Coup, Crack, Flash, Microsecond, Millisecond, Minute, Moment, Sec, Second, Shake, Stroke, Tick, Twink, Twinkle, Twinkling, Twitch, Wink |
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A jiffy can mean several different time intervals:
- A short period of time or a moment. The origin of the word is unknown, but is believed to have first appeared in 1779.
- In computing, the duration of one tick of the system timer interrupt. Typically, this time is 0.01 seconds.
- In physics, the time taken for light to travel one centimetre (sometimes one foot, or sometimes the width of a nucleon) - see speed of light
- In electronics, the time between alternating current power cycles (1/60 or 1/50 of a second) - see alternating current
- An indeterminate amount of time from a few seconds to forever.
References: FOLDOC (http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?jiffy), Jargon File (http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/J/jiffy.html),
WhatIs.com (http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci822188,00.html)
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