by 1885, from time (n.) + zone (n.). As in Britain and France, the movement to regulate time nationally came from the railroads.

Previous to 1883 the methods of measuring time in the United States were so varied and so numerous as to be ludicrous. There were 50 different standards used in the United States, and on one road between New York and Boston, whose actual difference is 12 minutes, there were three distinct standards of time. Even small towns had two different standards one known as "town" or local time and the other "railroad" time.

... At noon on November 18, 1883, there was a general resetting of watches and clocks all over the United States and Canada, and the four great time zones, one hour apart, into which the country was divided came into being. So smoothly did the plan work that the general readjustment was accomplished without great difficulty and it has worked satisfactorily ever since. [Railroad Trainman, September 1909]

also air-mail, airmail, 1913, from air (n.1) meaning "by aircraft" + mail (n.1). As a verb by 1919. Related: Air-mailed.

see bate (v.1).

French, literally "in mass" (see mass (n.1)).

also homepage, 1993, from home (n.) + page (n.1).

a fertility goddess, 1728, Latin, literally "great mother;" see magnate + mother (n.1).

"quarter dollar," 1730, in reference to the Mexican real, a large coin that was divided into eight bits; see bit (n.1). Compare piece of eight (under piece (n.1)). Two bits thus would have equaled a quarter of the coin. Hence two-bit (adj.) "cheap, tawdry," first recorded 1929.

also dustbowl, "drought-plagued region of the U.S. Midwest," 1936, from dust (n.) + bowl (n.1).

an act justifying war, 1840, from Latin casus "case" (see case (n.1)) + belli, genitive of bellum "war" (see bellicose).

"coarse cotton fabric of open texture," 1650s, originally cloth in which curds were pressed, from cheese (n.1) + cloth.