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 Definitions for jiffy: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
:
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]
WordNet (r) 2.0
:
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}]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
:
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
Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)
:
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.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
:
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)
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