Adjacent Words

Hour definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HOUR, n. our. [L. hora; also L. tempestivus, from tempus. See Time. But hour, hora, afterward came to signify a certain portion or division of the day. This has been different in different nations.]
1. A space of time equal to one twenty fourth part of the natural day, or duration of the diurnal revolution of the earth. An hour answers to fifteen degrees of the equator. It consists of 60 minutes, each minute of 60 seconds, etc.
2. Time; a particular time; as the hour of death.
Jesus saith, woman,my hour is not yet come. John 2.
3. The time marked or indicated by a chronometer, clock or watch; the particular time of the day. What is the hour? At what hour shall we meet? I will be with you at an early hour.
Good hour, signifies early or seasonably.
You have arrived at a good hour.
To keep good hours, to be at home in good season; not to be abroad late, or at the usual hours of retiring to rest.
Hours, in the plural, certain prayers in the Romish church, to be repeated at stated times of the day, as matins and vespers.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a period of time equal to 1/24th of a day; "the job will take more than an hour" [syn: hour, hr, 60 minutes]
2: clock time; "the hour is getting late" [syn: hour, time of day]
3: a special and memorable period; "it was their finest hour"
4: distance measured by the time taken to cover it; "we live an hour from the airport"; "its just 10 minutes away" [syn: hour, minute]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French ure, eure, from Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin hora canonical hour, from Latin, hour of the day, from Greek h?ra — more at year Date: 13th century 1. a time or office for daily liturgical devotion; especially canonical hour 2. the 24th part of a day ; 60 minutes 3. a. the time of day reckoned in two 12-hour periods b. plural the time reckoned in one 24-hour period from midnight to midnight using a 4-digit number of which the first two digits indicate the hour and the last two digits indicate the minute <in the military
4:30 p.m. is called 1630 hours> 4. a. a customary or particular time <lunch hour> <in our hour of need>; also moment 1b <hero of the hour> b. plural time of going to bed <keeps late hours>; also time of working <banker's hours> 5. an angular unit of right ascension equal to 15 degrees measured along the celestial equator 6. the work done or distance traveled at normal rate in an hour <the city was two hours away> 7. a. a class session b. credit hour, semester hour

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a twenty-fourth part of a day and night, 60 minutes. 2 a time of day, a point in time (a late hour; what is the hour?). 3 (in pl. with preceding numerals in form 18.00, 20.30, etc.) this number of hours and minutes past midnight on the 24-hour clock (will assemble at 20.00 hours). 4 a a period set aside for some purpose (lunch hour; keep regular hours). b (in pl.) a fixed period of time for work, use of a building, etc. (office hours; opening hours). 5 a short indefinite period of time (an idle hour). 6 the present time (question of the hour). 7 a time for action etc. (the hour has come). 8 the distance traversed in one hour by a means of transport stated or implied (we are an hour from London). 9 RC Ch. a prayers to be said at one of seven fixed times of day (book of hours). b any of these times. 10 (prec. by the) each time o'clock of a whole number of hours (buses leave on the hour; on the half hour; at quarter past the hour). 11 Astron. 15° of longitude or right ascension. Phrases and idioms: after hours after closing-time. hour-hand the hand on a clock or watch which shows the hour. hour-long adj. lasting for one hour. --adv. for one hour. till all hours till very late. Etymology: ME ure etc. f. AF ure, OF ore, eure f. L hora f. Gk hora season, hour

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hour Hour, n. [OE. hour, our, hore, ure, OF. hore, ore, ure, F. heure, L. hora, fr. Gr. ?, orig., a definite space of time, fixed by natural laws; hence, a season, the time of the day, an hour. See Year, and cf. Horologe, Horoscope.] 1. The twenty-fourth part of a day; sixty minutes. 2. The time of the day, as expressed in hours and minutes, and indicated by a timepiece; as, what is the hour? At what hour shall we meet? 3. Fixed or appointed time; conjuncture; a particular time or occasion; as, the hour of greatest peril; the man for the hour. Woman, . . . mine hour is not yet come. --John ii. 4. This is your hour, and the power of darkness. --Luke xxii. 53. 4. pl. (R. C. Ch.) Certain prayers to be repeated at stated times of the day, as matins and vespers. 5. A measure of distance traveled. Vilvoorden, three hours from Brussels. --J. P. Peters. After hours, after the time appointed for one's regular labor. Canonical hours. See under Canonical. Hour angle (Astron.), the angle between the hour circle passing through a given body, and the meridian of a place. Hour circle. (Astron.) (a) Any circle of the sphere passing through the two poles of the equator; esp., one of the circles drawn on an artificial globe through the poles, and dividing the equator into spaces of 15[deg], or one hour, each. (b) A circle upon an equatorial telescope lying parallel to the plane of the earth's equator, and graduated in hours and subdivisions of hours of right ascension. (c) A small brass circle attached to the north pole of an artificial globe, and divided into twenty-four parts or hours. It is used to mark differences of time in working problems on the globe. Hour hand, the hand or index which shows the hour on a timepiece. Hour line. (a) (Astron.) A line indicating the hour. (b) (Dialing) A line on which the shadow falls at a given hour; the intersection of an hour circle which the face of the dial. Hour plate, the plate of a timepiece on which the hours are marked; the dial. --Locke. Sidereal hour, the twenty-fourth part of a sidereal day. Solar hour, the twenty-fourth part of a solar day. The small hours, the early hours of the morning, as one o'clock, two o'clock, etc.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(hours) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. An hour is a period of sixty minutes. They waited for about two hours... I only slept about half an hour that night. ...a twenty-four hour strike... N-COUNT 2. People say that something takes or lasts hours to emphasize that it takes or lasts a very long time, or what seems like a very long time. Getting there would take hours. N-PLURAL [emphasis] 3. A clock that strikes the hour strikes when it is exactly one o'clock, two o'clock, and so on. N-SING: the N 4. You can refer to a particular time or moment as a particular hour. (LITERARY) ...the hour of his execution... = time N-SING: with supp 5. If you refer, for example, to someone's hour of need or hour of happiness, you are referring to the time in their life when they are or were experiencing that condition or feeling. (LITERARY) ...the darkest hour of my professional life. N-COUNT: with supp 6. You can refer to the period of time during which something happens or operates each day as the hours during which it happens or operates. ...the hours of darkness... Phone us on this number during office hours. N-PLURAL: with supp 7. If you refer to the hours involved in a job, you are talking about how long you spend each week doing it and when you do it. I worked quite irregular hours... N-PLURAL 8. see eleventh hour see lunch hour see rush hour 9. If you do something after hours, you do it outside normal business hours or the time when you are usually at work. ...a local restaurant where steel workers unwind after hours... PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR n see also after-hours 10. If you say that something happens at all hours of the day or night, you disapprove of it happening at the time that it does or as often as it does. She didn't want her fourteen-year-old daughter coming home at all hours of the morning. PHRASE: PHR after v [disapproval] 11. If something happens in the early hours or in the small hours, it happens in the early morning after midnight. Gibbs was arrested in the early hours of yesterday morning. PHRASE 12. If something happens on the hour, it happens every hour at, for example, nine o'clock, ten o'clock, and so on, and not at any number of minutes past an hour. PHRASE: PHR after v 13. Something that happens out of hours happens at a time that is not during the usual hours of business or work. (mainly BRIT) Teachers refused to run out of hours sports matches because they weren't being paid. PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR n

Easton's Bible Dictionary

First found in Dan. 3:6; 4:19, 33;5:5. It is the rendering of the Chaldee shaah, meaning a "moment," a "look." It is used in the New Testament frequently to denote some determinate season (Matt. 8:13; Luke 12:39).

With the ancient Hebrews the divisions of the day were "morning, evening, and noon-day" (Ps. 55:17, etc.). The Greeks, following the Babylonians, divided the day into twelve hours. The Jews, during the Captivity, learned also from the Babylonians this method of dividing time. When Judea became subject to the Romans, the Jews adopted the Roman mode of reckoning time. The night was divided into four watches (Luke 12:38; Matt. 14:25; 13:25). Frequent allusion is also made to hours (Matt. 25:13; 26:40, etc.). (See DAY.)

An hour was the twelfth part of the day, reckoning from sunrise to sunset, and consequently it perpetually varied in length.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

our (sha`atha', she`a'; hora): Hour as a division of the day does not occur in the Old Testament; the term she`a' (sha`atha') found in Dnl, is Aramaic, and as used there denotes a short period or point of time of no definite length (Da 3:6,15; 4:33 (Hebrew 30); 5:5). The Greek hora is commonly used in the New Testament in the same way, as "that same hour," "from that hour," etc., but it also occurs as a division of the day, as, "the third hour," "the ninth hour," etc. The Hebrews would seem to have become acquainted with this division of time through the Babylonians, but whether before the captivity we are not certain. The mention of the sun dial of Ahaz would seem to indicate some such reckoning of time during the monarchy.

See TIME.

H. Porter

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Sixty minutes, twenty-fourth part of a day.

Moby Thesaurus

abundant year, academic year, annum, bell, bissextile year, calendar month, calendar year, century, common year, day, decade, decennary, decennium, defective year, fateful moment, fiscal year, fortnight, instant, interval, juncture, kairos, leap year, lunar month, lunar year, lunation, luster, lustrum, man-hour, microsecond, millennium, millisecond, minute, moment, moment of truth, month, moon, period, point, pregnant moment, psychological moment, quarter, quinquennium, regular year, season, second, semester, session, sidereal year, solar year, space, span, spell, stage, stretch, sun, term, the time, time, time lag, time of day, time signal, trimester, twelvemonth, week, weekday, while, year