Jiffy

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Jiffy \Jif"fy\, n. [Perh. corrupt. fr. gliff.] [Written also
     {giffy}.]
     A moment; an instant; as, I will be ready in a jiffy.
     [Colloq.] --J. & H. Smith.
     [1913 Webster]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  jiffy
       n : a very short time (as the time it takes the eye blink or the
           heart to beat); "if I had the chance I'd do it in a
           flash" [syn: {blink of an eye}, {flash}, {heartbeat}, {instant},
            {split second}, {trice}, {twinkling}, {wink}, {New York
           minute}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  28 Moby Thesaurus words for "jiffy":
     breath, breathing, coup, crack, flash, half a jiffy, half a mo,
     half a second, half a shake, instant, jiff, microsecond,
     millisecond, minute, moment, sec, second, shake, split second,
     stroke, tick, trice, twink, twinkle, twinkling, twitch, two shakes,
     wink
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  jiffy n. 1. The duration of one tick of the system clock on your
     computer (see {tick}). Often one AC cycle time (1/60 second in the U.S.
     and Canada, 1/50 most other places), but more recently 1/100 sec has
     become common. "The swapper runs every 6 jiffies" means that the virtual
     memory management routine is executed once for every 6 ticks of the
     clock, or about ten times a second. 2. Confusingly, the term is
     sometimes also used for a 1-millisecond {wall time} interval. 3. Even
     more confusingly, physicists semi-jokingly use `jiffy' to mean the time
     required for light to travel one foot in a vacuum, which turns out to be
     close to one _nanosecond_. 4. Indeterminate time from a few seconds to
     forever. "I'll do it in a jiffy" means certainly not now and possibly
     never. This is a bit contrary to the more widespread use of the word.
     Oppose {nano}. See also {Real Soon Now}.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  jiffy
       
          1. The duration of one {tick} of the computer's {system
          clock}.  Often one AC cycle time (1/60 second in the US and
          Canada, 1/50 most other places), but more recently 1/100 sec
          has become common.
       
          2. Confusingly, the term is sometimes also used for a
          1-millisecond {wall time} interval.  Even more confusingly,
          physicists semi-jokingly use "jiffy" to mean the time required
          for light to travel one foot in a vacuum, which turns out to
          be close to one *nanosecond*.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (2002-03-02)