TIMER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does timer mean? 

• TIMER (noun)
  The noun TIMER has 3 senses:

1. a timepiece that measures a time interval and signals its end

2. (sports) an official who keeps track of the time elapsed

3. a regulator that activates or deactivates a mechanism at set times

  Familiarity information: TIMER used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TIMER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A timepiece that measures a time interval and signals its end

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("timer" is a kind of...):

horologe; timekeeper; timepiece (a measuring instrument or device for keeping time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "timer"):

chronograph (an accurate timer for recording time)

parking meter (a coin-operated timer located next to a parking space; depositing money into it entitles you to park your car there for a specified length of time)

stop watch; stopwatch (a timepiece that can be started or stopped for exact timing (as of a race))

Derivation:

time (measure the time or duration of an event or action or the person who performs an action in a certain period of time)

time (set the speed, duration, or execution of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(sports) an official who keeps track of the time elapsed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

timekeeper; timer

Hypernyms ("timer" is a kind of...):

official (someone who administers the rules of a game or sport)

Domain category:

athletics; sport (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)

Derivation:

time (measure the time or duration of an event or action or the person who performs an action in a certain period of time)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A regulator that activates or deactivates a mechanism at set times

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("timer" is a kind of...):

governor; regulator (a control that maintains a steady speed in a machine (as by controlling the supply of fuel))

Derivation:

time (regulate or set the time of)

 Context examples 

The tempests, which can grow into bright bands that encircle the entire planet, are on a natural timer that is reset by each subsequent storm.

(Study Explains Saturn's Epic Tantrums, NASA)

But it took a subtler insight to read the grim smile which flickered over the smith’s mouth, or the smouldering fire which shone in his grey eyes, and it was only the old-timers who knew that, with his mighty heart and his iron frame, he was a perilous man to lay odds against.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)