When using the time and top commands, what exactly is 'system' time?

I.e. currently I'm compiling a new kernel, and while it's mkdepending, 
top reports on 80% system time usage.

   If I compile dhrystone and time it, I get the following times...

3.198u 10.589s 0:24.28 56.7% 0+0k 353+72io 494pf+0w
3.117u 8.082s 0:10.80 103.6% 0+0k 8+59io 0pf+0w

  The second time is for running the compiler again straight away after 
the first time, dunno how I get more than 100% CPU!

  The thing is, what is the system doing for 10 seconds? On a 
sparcstation or a PC, I get similar values for user time, but less than 
one second for system time!

 This is using sa-4713 with the sa harware bug fix and the indernam IDE disk.

As mark wanted to know of any seepdups, here's a value for the previous 
kernel.

3.199u 8.631s 0:13.96 84.6% 0+0k 72+68io 6pf+0w  (for the second compile)

  Ale.