leap second

leap second

n.

A second of time, as measured by an atomic clock, added to or omitted from official timekeeping systems periodically to compensate for small changes in the rotation of the earth and therefore the length of a solar day.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

leap second

n

(Units) a second added to or removed from a scale for reckoning time on one particular occasion, to synchronize it with another scale

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

leap′ sec`ond

n.

an extra second intercalated into the world's timekeeping system about once a year, made necessary by the gradual slowing down of the earth's rotation.

[1970–75]

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

leap second - a second (as measured by an atomic clock) added to or subtracted from Greenwich Mean Time in order to compensate for slowing in the Earth's rotation s, sec, second - 1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.