standard time

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standard time

standard time civil time used within a given time zone. The earth is divided into 24 time zones, each of which is about 15° of longitude wide and corresponds to one hour of time. Within a zone all civil clocks are set to the same local solar time . Adjacent zones typically differ by a whole hour, although there are instances, such as in Newfoundland and South Australia, of half-hour zones. Standard time is based on universal time . Standard time was largely the creation of the Canadian railway engineer Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915). Its establishment in the United States was mainly due to the efforts of the educator Charles Dowd and William Allen, secretary of the American Railroad Association. Standard time officially came into existence after a 19-nation White House meeting in 1884, with the prime meridian established at Greenwich, England. In the United States, time zones are regulated by the Dept. of Transportation.

See also daylight saving time .

Bibliography: See C. Blaise, Time Lord: Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time (2001).

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standard time

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | Â© The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

standard time a uniform time for places in approximately the same longitude, established in a country or region by law or custom, and given a particular name, as Eastern Standard Time, Greenwich Mean Time.

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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "standard time." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "standard time." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (November 28, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-standardtime.html

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "standard time." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press. 2006. Retrieved November 28, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-standardtime.html

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