EPOCH

Ep"och, n. Etym: [LL. epocha, Gr. sah to overpower, Goth. sigis

victory, AS. sigor, sige, G. sieg: cf. F. époque. See Scheme.]

1. A fixed point of time, established in history by the occurrence of

some grand or remarkable event; a point of time marked by an event of

great subsequent influence; as, the epoch of the creation; the birth

of Christ was the epoch which gave rise to the Christian era.

In divers ages, . . . divers epochs of time were used. Usher.

Great epochs and crises in the kingdom of God. Trench.

The acquittal of the bishops was not the only event which makes the

30th of June, 1688, a great epoch in history. Macaulay.

Note: Epochs mark the beginning of new historical periods, and dates

are often numbered from them.

2. A period of time, longer or shorter, remarkable for events of

great subsequent influence; a memorable period; as, the epoch of

maritime discovery, or of the Reformation. "So vast an epoch of

time." F. Harrison.

The influence of Chaucer continued to live even during the dreary

interval which separates from one another two important epochs of our

literary history. A. W. Ward.

3. (Geol.)

Defn: A division of time characterized by the prevalence of similar

conditions of the earth; commonly a minor division or part of a

period.

The long geological epoch which stored up the vast coal measures. J.

C. Shairp.

4. (Astron.)

(a) The date at which a planet or comet has a longitude or position.

(b) An arbitrary fixed date, for which the elements used in computing

the place of a planet, or other heavenly body, at any other date, are

given; as, the epoch of Mars; lunar elements for the epoch March 1st,

1860.

Syn.

-- Era; time; date; period; age.

-- Epoch, Era. We speak of the era of the Reformation, when we think

of it as a period, during which a new order of things prevailed; so

also, the era of good feeling, etc. Had we been thinking of the time

as marked by certain great events, or as a period in which great

results were effected, we should have called the times when these

events happened epochs, and the whole period an epoch.

The capture of Constantinople is an epoch in the history of

Mahometanism; but the flight of Mahomet is its era. C. J. Smith.