Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An external stimulus or cue, such as daylight or a regularly repeated occurrence, that serves to regulate an organism's biological clock.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology A rhythmically occurring
cue given by theenvironment , such as a change inlight ortemperature , to reset the internal body clock.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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They are known as the zeitgeber, a German word meaning time keeper.
You Scratch Your Nose, I Scratch Mine - What body language really means. Field Notes 2008
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People talk a lot about circadian (circa dia = approximately one day) rhythms and establishing a regular sleep schedule, but bedtime timing is just one "zeitgeber" (lit: time giver), or stimulus that synchronizes this biorhythm (like pheromones and menstrual cycle).
Tim Ferriss: Relax Like a Pro: 5 Steps to Hacking Your Sleep 2008
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For people and animals, light is the most important zeitgeber.
The Time Paradox Philip Zimbardo 2008
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By paying attention to who changes their posture or gestures in a particular way first - and then watching who mirrors it, you can determine who acts as the zeitgeber.
You Scratch Your Nose, I Scratch Mine - What body language really means. Field Notes 2008
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For people and animals, light is the most important zeitgeber.
The Time Paradox Philip Zimbardo 2008
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For people and animals, light is the most important zeitgeber.
The Time Paradox Philip Zimbardo 2008
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An observant person can gather useful information, especially when first getting to know a group of people, simply by paying attention to who acts as the zeitgeber during conversations.
You Scratch Your Nose, I Scratch Mine - What body language really means. Field Notes 2008
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For people and animals, light is the most important zeitgeber.
The Time Paradox Philip Zimbardo 2008
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Occupying the zeitgeber position is not so much a personality trait as it is highly situationally dependent.
You Scratch Your Nose, I Scratch Mine - What body language really means. Field Notes 2008
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But a zeitgeber could also be a scrambled-egg breakfast or children coming home from school in the afternoon.
NYT > Home Page By TARA PARKER-POPE 2011
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Our internal body clocks often run at slightly over 24 hours a day, so we use zeitgebers (time-givers) from the environment, to tweak our internal clocks so as to fit with the world outside.
A lifetime of sleep, from birth to menopause and beyond Alice Gregory 2019
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Free of any watches, windows, or alarm clocks, participants spent several weeks living a timeless existence, away from any temporal cues or signals from external factors, known as “zeitgebers”—such as the Earth’s cycle of day and night—that might hint at what time it was outside.
What Is Chronobiology? | JSTOR Daily Catherine Halley 2022
whichbe commented on the word zeitgeber
A naturally occurring cue, such as light or temperature, which regulates biological rhythms; something which influences or regulates the timing or rhythm of something else. (From Double-Tongued Dictionary)
July 26, 2008