jiffy

n. 1. The duration of one tick of the system clock on your computer (see
tick ). Often one AC cycle time (1/60 second in the U.S. and Canada, 1/50
most other places), but more recently 1/100 sec has become common. The
swapper runs every 6 jiffies means that the virtual memory management
routine is executed once for every 6 ticks of the clock, or about ten times
a second. 2. Confusingly, the term is sometimes also used for a
1-millisecond wall time interval. 3. Even more confusingly, physicists
semi-jokingly use jiffy to mean the time required for light to travel one
foot in a vacuum, which turns out to be close to one nanosecond. Other
physicists use the term for the quantum-nechanical lower bound on meaningful
time lengths, 4. Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. I'll do
it in a jiffy means certainly not now and possibly never. This is a bit
contrary to the more widespread use of the word. Oppose nano. See also Real
Soon Now.

