run time

1. The elapsed time to perform a computation on a particular

computer.

2. The amount of time a processor actually spent on a

particular process and not on other processes or overhead (see

time-sharing).

3. The period of time during which a program is being

executed, as opposed to compile-time or load time. The term

should be hyphenated when used as an adjective.

4. run-time support.

(2001-09-14)