Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Year \Year\, n. [OE. yer, yeer, [yogh]er, AS. ge['a]r; akin to
   OFries. i?r, g?r, D. jaar, OHG. j[=a]r, G. jahr, Icel. [=a]r,
   Dan. aar, Sw. [*a]r, Goth. j?r, Gr. ? a season of the year,
   springtime, a part of the day, an hour, ? a year, Zend
   y[=a]re year. [root]4, 279. Cf. {Hour}, {Yore}.]
   1. The time of the apparent revolution of the sun trough the
      ecliptic; the period occupied by the earth in making its
      revolution around the sun, called the astronomical year;
      also, a period more or less nearly agreeing with this,
      adopted by various nations as a measure of time, and
      called the civil year; as, the common lunar year of 354
      days, still in use among the Mohammedans; the year of 360
      days, etc. In common usage, the year consists of 365 days,
      and every fourth year (called bissextile, or leap year) of
      366 days, a day being added to February on that year, on
      account of the excess above 365 days (see {Bissextile}).

            Of twenty year of age he was, I guess. --Chaucer.

   Note: The civil, or legal, year, in England, formerly
         commenced on the 25th of March. This practice continued
         throughout the British dominions till the year 1752.

   2. The time in which any planet completes a revolution about
      the sun; as, the year of Jupiter or of Saturn.

   3. pl. Age, or old age; as, a man in years. --Shak.

   {Anomalistic year}, the time of the earth's revolution from
      perihelion to perihelion again, which is 365 days, 6
      hours, 13 minutes, and 48 seconds.

   {A year's mind} (Eccl.), a commemoration of a deceased
      person, as by a Mass, a year after his death. Cf. {A
      month's mind}, under {Month}.

   {Bissextile year}. See {Bissextile}.

   {Canicular year}. See under {Canicular}.

   {Civil year}, the year adopted by any nation for the
      computation of time.

   {Common lunar year}, the period of 12 lunar months, or 354
      days.

   {Common year}, each year of 365 days, as distinguished from
      leap year.

   {Embolismic year}, or {Intercalary lunar year}, the period of
      13 lunar months, or 384 days.

   {Fiscal year} (Com.), the year by which accounts are
      reckoned, or the year between one annual time of
      settlement, or balancing of accounts, and another.

   {Great year}. See {Platonic year}, under {Platonic}.

   {Gregorian year}, {Julian year}. See under {Gregorian}, and
      {Julian}.

   {Leap year}. See {Leap year}, in the Vocabulary.

   {Lunar astronomical year}, the period of 12 lunar synodical
      months, or 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 36 seconds.

   {Lunisolar year}. See under {Lunisolar}.

   {Periodical year}. See {Anomalistic year}, above.

   {Platonic year}, {Sabbatical year}. See under {Platonic}, and
      {Sabbatical}.

   {Sidereal year}, the time in which the sun, departing from
      any fixed star, returns to the same. This is 365 days, 6
      hours, 9 minutes, and 9.3 seconds.

   {Tropical year}. See under {Tropical}.

   {Year and a day} (O. Eng. Law), a time to be allowed for an
      act or an event, in order that an entire year might be
      secured beyond all question. --Abbott.

   {Year of grace}, any year of the Christian era; Anno Domini;
      A. D. or a. d.

Civil \Civ"il\, a. [L. civilis, fr. civis citizen: cf. F. civil.
   See {City}.]
   1. Pertaining to a city or state, or to a citizen in his
      relations to his fellow citizens or to the state; within
      the city or state.

   2. Subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not
      barbarous; -- said of the community.

            England was very rude and barbarous; for it is but
            even the other day since England grew civil.
                                                  --Spenser.

   3. Performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to
      government; -- said of an individual.

            Civil men come nearer the saints of God than others;
            they come within a step or two of heaven. --Preston

   4. Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed
      to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous;
      complaisant; affable.

   Note: ``A civil man now is one observant of slight external
         courtesies in the mutual intercourse between man and
         man; a civil man once was one who fulfilled all the
         duties and obligations flowing from his position as a
         'civis' and his relations to the other members of that
         'civitas.''' --Trench

   5. Pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from
      military, ecclesiastical, or official state.

   6. Relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit
      distinct from criminal proceedings.

   {Civil action}, an action to enforce the rights or redress
      the wrongs of an individual, not involving a criminal
      proceeding.

   {Civil architecture}, the architecture which is employed in
      constructing buildings for the purposes of civil life, in
      distinction from military and naval architecture, as
      private houses, palaces, churches, etc.

   {Civil death}. (Law.) See under {Death}.

   {Civil engineering}. See under {Engineering}.

   {Civil law}. See under {Law}.

   {Civil list}. See under {List}.

   {Civil remedy} (Law), that given to a person injured, by
      action, as opposed to a criminal prosecution.

   {Civil service}, all service rendered to and paid for by the
      state or nation other than that pertaining to naval or
      military affairs.

   {Civil service reform}, the substitution of business
      principles and methods for the spoils system in the
      conduct of the civil service, esp. in the matter of
      appointments to office.

   {Civil state}, the whole body of the laity or citizens not
      included under the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical
      states.

   {Civil suit}. Same as {Civil action}.

   {Civil war}. See under {War}.

   {Civil year}. See under {Year}.

Source : WordNet®

civil year
     n : the year (reckoned from January 1 to December 31) according
         to Gregorian calendar [syn: {calendar year}]