a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations; "in England they call a period a stop"
the end or completion of something; "death put a period to his endeavors"; "a change soon put a period to my tranquility"
a unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed; "ganoid fishes swarmed during the earlier geological periods"
one of three periods of play in hockey games
the interval taken to complete one cycle of a regularly repeating phenomenon
a stage in the history of a culture having a definable place in space and time; "a novel from the Victorian period"
a preliminary election where delegates or nominees are chosen
one of the main flight feathers projecting along the outer edge of a bird's wing
not derived from or reducible to something else; basic; "a primary instinct"
of first rank or importance or value; direct and immediate rather than secondhand; "primary goals"; "a primary effect"; "primary sources"; "a primary interest"
borrowing and leaving an article as security for repayment of the loan
(chess) the least powerful piece; moves only forward and captures only to the side; it can be promoted to a more powerful piece if it reaches the 8th rank
an article deposited as security
leave as a guarantee in return for money; "pawn your grandfather's gold watch"