time shiftn.
/ˈtʌɪm ʃɪft/, U.S. /ˈtaɪm ˌʃɪft/ 1. A change in the time or timing of something; spec. a movement from one period in time to another in a play, film, etc.
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1914 H. C. Chappell & K. J. Chappell Hist. Buchanan County, Iowa I. xv. 304 Those first timetables..changed time every issue, and it kept the prospective travelers busy to keep up with the latest time shifts.
1933 F. M. Ford Let. 24 Aug. (1965) 222 To them, on account of the ‘time-shift’..they [sc. novels] must be quite incomprehensible.
1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 18 July 414/2 This device, moreover, involves Mr. Young in irritating time-shifts and flash-backs and rather strained symbolism.
1990 F. H. Lopes da Silva et al. in E. R. John Machinery of Mind vi. 125 All three are calculated as a function of time shift between a pair of signals.
2010 Calgary (Alberta) Sun (Nexis) 29 Oct. e5 The cinematic version is bogged down by a leisurely pace and time shifts with the story constantly told in confusing flashbacks.
2. The use of a device or feature which enables viewing of television programmes after the time they were originally broadcast, esp. by recording them; such a device or feature. Frequently attributive. Cf. time-shifting n. 2.
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1976 Newsday (N.Y.) 22 Feb. ii. 3/1 A $2,295 piece of equipment that its creators like to call a ‘time-shift’ machine. In down-to-earth parlance, it's a home video recorder.
1984 Guardian 3 Feb. 14/5 ‘Time-shift’ is still the most frequent use to which VCRs are put—recording broadcasts for later playback.
2005 Financial Times 29 Nov. 4/8 The television group..will use its new Freeview slot for More4+1, a timeshift channel for More4.
2011 Observer (Nexis) 9 Oct. (Review section) 4 This season averaged about 7.5m viewers..and between 1.5m and 2m people watch it on timeshift.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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