Olympiad

2 definitions found

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

  Olympiad \O*lym"pi*ad\ ([-o]*l[i^]m"p[i^]*[a^]d), n. [L.
     olympias, -adis, Gr. 'olympia`s, 'olympia`dos, fr. 'O`lympos
     Olympus, a mountain in Macedonia: cf. F. olympiade.]
     1. (Greek Antiq.) A period of four years, by which the
        ancient Greeks reckoned time, being the interval from one
        celebration of the Olympic games to another, beginning


        with the victory of Cor[oe]bus in the foot race, which
        took place in the year 776 b. c.; as, the era of the
        olympiads.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The quadrennial celebration of the modern Olympic games;
        as, the first Olympiad (1906). See {Olympics}.
  
     Syn: Olympic games, Olympics.
          [Webster 1913 Suppl.] Olympian

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Olympiad
       n 1: one of the 4-year intervals between Olympic Games; used to
            reckon time in ancient Greece for twelve centuries
            beginning in 776 BC
       2: the modern revival of the ancient games held once every 4
          years in a selected country [syn: {Olympic Games}, {Olympics}]