previous next

καιρός 1

I.due measure, proportion, fitness, Hes., etc.; καιροῦ πέρα beyond measure, unduly, Aesch., etc.; μείζων τοῦ καιροῦ, Lat. justo major, Xen.
II.of Place, a vital part of the body, like τὸ καίριον, Eur.
III.of Time, the right point of time, the proper time or season of action, the exact or critical time, Lat. opportunitas, καιρὸς βραχὺ μέτρον ἔχει "time and tide wait for no man," Pind.; καιρὸν παριέναι to let the time go by, Thuc.; καιροῦ τυχεῖν Eur.; καιρὸν λαμβάνειν Thuc.; ἔχειν καιρόν to be in season, id=Thuc.:— καιρός ἐστι, c. inf., it is time to do, Hdt., etc.
2.adverbial usages, εἰς or ἐς καιρόν in season, at the right time, opportune, Hdt., etc.; so, ἐπὶ καιροῦ Dem.;— κατὰ καιρόν Hdt.; πρὸς καιρόν Soph., etc.; and, without Preps., καιρῷ or καιρόν in season, attic;—all these being opp. to ἀπὸ καιροῦ, Plat.; παρὰ καιρόν Eur.; πρὸ καιροῦ prematurely, Aesch.
3.pl., ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις κ. at the most critical times, Xen., etc.
IV.advantage, profit, fruit, τινος of or from a thing, Pind.; τί καιρὸς καταλείβειν; what avails it to . . ? Eur.; οὗ κ. εἴη where it was convenient or advantageous, Thuc.; μετὰ μεγίστων καιρῶν with the greatest odds, the most critical results, id=Thuc.

1 καιρός,

Liddell and Scott. An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1889.

The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
Search for in
How to enter text in Greek:
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: