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split second

 
Dictionary: split second
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n.
An instant; a flash.

[Short for split second hands, a stopwatch with two second hands, one beneath the other, one of which may be stopped independently of the other.]


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Idioms: split second
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Home > Library > Literature & Language > Idioms

An instant, a fraction of a second, as in Our best swimmer came in a split second before theirs. This expression alludes to a stop watch that has two second hands, one above the other, for timing more than one athlete or intervals of a race by a single athlete. Each hand can be stopped independently of the other, so a second can be "split" when one second hand stops a fraction of a second after the other. [c. 1880]

WordNet: split second
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a very short time (as the time it takes to blink once)
  Synonyms: blink of an eye, flash, instant, jiffy, trice, twinkling, wink, New York minute

Wikipedia: Split Second (1992 film)
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This article is about the film. For other uses, see Split second (disambiguation).
Split Second

DVD cover
Directed by Tony Maylam
Ian Sharp
Produced by Keith Cavelle (executive producer)
Laura Gregory
Chris Hanley (executive producer)
Gary Scott Thompson (associate producer)
Written by Gary Scott Thompson
Starring Rutger Hauer
Kim Catrall
Neil Duncan
Spence George
Music by Wendy Carlos
Francis Haines
Stephen W. Parsons
Cinematography Clive Tickner
Editing by Dan Rae
Distributed by Astro Distribution
Release date(s) May 1, 1992
Running time 90 min.
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $7,000,000 (estimated)

Split Second is a 1992 British science fiction film starring Rutger Hauer, Kim Cattrall, and Neil Duncan. The film is directed by Tony Maylam and Ian Sharp.

Plot summary

In the year 2008, extensive rainfall has caused large areas of London to be under a foot or more of water. Rookie police officer Dick Durkin (Duncan) is assigned to partner Harley Stone (Hauer), a burnt-out and highly cynical homicide detective who, according to his commanding officer, survives on "Anxiety, coffee and chocolate" after being unable to prevent the murder of his partner by a serial killer several years previously. Now however, the murders have begun again and Stone and Durkin are assigned the case. After investigating the scenes of several killings, they appear no closer to identifying the killer, with their only clues being that the murders seem to be linked to the lunar cycle, and that the killer has multiple recombinant DNA strands, having absorbed the DNA of seemingly anything he kills.

Finally, after Stone's girlfriend Michelle (Cattrall) is kidnapped, the detectives track the killer deep into the flooded and disused London Underground system and discover the truth: The killer is not human, and actually some horrific and unknown homicidal form of life - Fast, savage, bloodthirsty and fixated upon killing Stone just as it previously killed his partner. In fact, as the movie progresses, each killing and "appearance" of the monster is an attempt to lure Stone closer and closer.

After a tense battle in and around an abandoned Tube Train, Stone is able to pull the monster's heart from its chest and kill it. However, as the policemen leave the scene with Michelle in a rescue dinghy, bubbles of air are seen breaking the surface of the area of water over which the beast had Michelle suspended as bait body is submerged, suggesting that there may be more than one.

Cast

External links


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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Split Second (1992 film)".  Read more