Meaning a person of high rank or distinction is attested from c.1500 in English; as a longer way to say person, the word was in use from 1550s (but often slyly ironical, with suggestion that the subject is overly self-important).
If your system is standalone, the default sync interval for system time is 604800 seconds (7 days). If you are in a domain environment, the default sync interval is 3600 seconds (0.04166667 days). If you are using XP Pro, you can adjust your settings using Group Policy editor (GPedit - Administrative Templates\System\Windows Time Service\Time Providers) or you can adjust things through a registry edit (works for any version of XP).
The Time Server will synchronize its time with the Internet Time Servers. Other systems on the network will then synchronize with the company Time Server over the LAN. NTP uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) on Port 123 to synchronize time. UTC Clocks are referenced by Stratum. Basically, each stratum is a level of accuracy where the top level, or most accurate systems, is numbered as Stratum 0 (Reference Clocks).