space

pronunciation

How to pronounce space in British English: UK [speɪs] word uk audio image

How to pronounce space in American English: US [speɪs] word us audio image

Noun:

the unlimited expanse in which everything is located
an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things)
an area reserved for some particular purpose
a blank character used to separate successive words in writing or printing
the interval between two times
a blank area
one of the areas between or below or above the lines of a musical staff
(printing) a block of type without a raised letter; used for spacing between words
Verb:

place at intervals

Word Origin

space: space: [13] Space comes via Old French espace from Latin spatium ‘distance, space, period’, a word of unknown origin. Its modern English application to the ‘expanse in which the Universe is contained’ did not emerge until the 19th century. The Latin derived adjective spatiōsus has given English spacious [14], but spatial [19] was coined in English directly from Latin spatium.

space (n.): c. 1300, "extent or area; room" (to do something), a shortening of Old French espace "period of time, distance, interval" (12c.), from Latin spatium "room, area, distance, stretch of time," of unknown origin (also source of Spanish espacio, Italian spazio). From early 14c. as "a place," also "amount or extent of time." From mid-14c. as "distance, interval of space;" from late 14c. as "ground, land, territory; extension in three dimensions; distance between two or more points." From early 15c. as "size, bulk," also "an assigned position." Typographical sense is attested from 1670s (typewriter space-bar is from 1876, earlier space-key, 1860). Astronomical sense of "stellar depths, immense emptiness between the worlds" is by 1723, perhaps as early as "Paradise Lost" (1667), common from 1890s. Space age is attested from 1946. Many compounds first appeared in science fiction and speculative writing, such as spaceship (1894, "A Journey in Other Worlds," John Jacob Astor); spacecraft (1928, "Popular Science"); space travel (1931); space station (1936, "Rockets Through Space"); spaceman (1942, "Thrilling Wonder Stories"). Space race attested from 1959. Space shuttle attested by 1970. Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards. [Sir Fred Hoyle, "London Observer," 1979]

space (v.): 1540s, "to make of a certain extent;" 1680s in typography; 1703 as "to arrange at set intervals," from space (n.). Meaning "to be in a state of drug-induced euphoria" is recorded from 1968. Space cadet "eccentric person disconnected with reality" (often implying an intimacy with hallucinogenic drugs) is a 1960s phrase, probably traceable to 1950s U.S. sci-fi television program "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet," which was watched by many children who dreamed of growing up to be one and succeeded. Related: Spaced; spacing.

space (adj.): c. 1600, from space (n.). Meaning "having to do with outer space" is from 1894.