epoch |ˌiːpɒk| |ˌɛpɒk|
noun
a period of time in history or a person's life, typically one marked by notable events or particular characteristics : the Victorian epoch.
� the beginning of a distinctive period in the history of someone or something : Jewish reimmigration to Palestine marked an epoch in the history of Jewry.
� Geology a division of time that is a subdivision of a period and is itself subdivided into ages, corresponding to a series in chronostratigraphy : the Pliocene epoch.
� Astronomy an arbitrarily fixed date relative to which planetary or stellar measurements are expressed.
ORIGIN early 17th cent.(in the Latin form epocha; originally in the general sense of a date from which succeeding years are numbered): from modern Latin epocha, from Greek epokhē �stoppage, fixed point of time,� from epekhein �stop, take up a position,� from epi �upon, near to� + ekhein �stay, be in a certain state.�