Past tense of time: to measure how long something takes, or to do something at a particular moment chosen carefully.
From 'time' (Old English 'tīma'), which may derive from Proto-Germanic roots. The verb form 'to time' emerged in the 1400s as mechanical clocks became more common and people needed a word for synchronizing actions with measurement.
Before mechanical clocks, there was no real word for 'timing' something—people just did things when they felt ready—but once pendulum clocks and watches arrived, 'timing' became crucial to new technologies like trains and factories, and the word became essential.
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