jiffy

Plural: jiffies

Noun

• A very short period of time.
• a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
• A very short, unspecified length of time.
• A unit of time defined by the frequency of its basic timer – historically, and by convention, 0.01 of a second, but some computer operating systems use other values.
• The length of an alternating current power cycle (1/60 or 1/50 of a second).
• The time taken for light to travel a specified distance in a vacuum, usually one centimetre (approximately 33.3564 picoseconds), but sometimes one foot or the width of a nucleon.
• Ellipsis of jiffy bag, a padded envelope.

Examples

• I’ll be back in a jiffy.
• The timer was almost out, but she managed to play "QUIZZES" in a jiffy.

Synonyms

blink of an eye, flash, heartbeat, instant, New York minute, split second, trice, twinkling, wink, Jiffy bag, New York second, bat of an eye, bit, bubble envelope, bubble mailer, crack, eyeblink, glimpse, half a mo, jiff, jiffy, jot, minute, mo, moment, no time, padded envelope, padded mailer, sec, second, span, split-second, spurt, stound, tick, twink, twinkle, while

Related Words

jiffy tummy