Year

the length of time taken by the earth in making one revolution about the sun. The astronomical year is the time included between the two equinoxes. By rights the first day of the first month of the civil year should be the first day after the vernal equinox. March was the first month of the Roman year. September, October, November, and December, meaning the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months, were actually such, reckoning from March as the first. Until 1752 the English year began March 25th. The year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45.5 seconds, a trifle less than 365 1/4 days, in length. To avoid fractions, each fourth year or leap year is assigned an extra day, so that we have three years of 365 days, followed by one year of 366 days. The leap years are those divisible by four as 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872, etc. The fraction is not quite a fourth of a year, so it has been agreed to skip a leap year a century three times out of four; in other words, that only such century years should be leap years as are divisible by 400. 1896 and 1904 are leap years, but 1900, not being divisible by 400, was passed by with 365 days. 1996, 2000, and 2004 will all be leap years as 2000 is divisible by 400. See Calendar