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hours

- 4 dictionary results

hour

  [ouuhr, ou-er]
Use hours in a Sentence
–noun
1. a period of time equal to one twenty-fourth of a mean solar or civil day and equivalent to 60 minutes: He slept for an hour.
2. any specific one of these 24 periods, usually reckoned in two series of 12, one series from midnight to noon and the second from noon to midnight, but sometimes reckoned in one series of 24, from midnight to midnight: He slept for the hour between 2 and 3 a.m. The hour for the bombardment was between 1300 and 1400.
3. any specific time of day; the time indicated by a timepiece: What is the hour?
4. a short or limited period of time: He savored his hour of glory.
5. a particular or appointed time: What was the hour of death? At what hour do you open?
6. a customary or usual time: When is your dinner hour?
7. the present time: the man of the hour.
8. hours,
a. time spent in an office, factory, or the like, or for work, study, etc.: The doctor's hours were from 10 to 4. What an employee does after hours is his or her own business.
b. customary time of going to bed and getting up: to keep late hours.
c. (in the Christian church) the seven stated times of the day for prayer and devotion.
d. the offices or services prescribed for these times.
e. a book containing them.
9. distance normally covered in an hour's traveling: We live about an hour from the city.
10. Astronomy. a unit of measure of right ascension representing 15°, or the twenty-fourth part of a great circle.
11. a single period, as of class instruction or therapeutic consultation, usually lasting from 40 to 55 minutes. Compare clock-hour.
12. Education. Also called credit hour. one unit of academic credit, usually representing attendance at one scheduled period of instruction per week throughout a semester, quarter, or term.
13. the Hours, Classical Mythology. the Horae.
–adjective
14. of, pertaining to, or noting an hour.
—Idiom
15. one's hour,
a. Also, one's last hour. the instant of death: The sick man knew that his hour had come.
b. any crucial moment.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME (h)oure < AF; OF (h)ore < L hōra < Gk hrā time, season

Related forms:
hourless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To hours
hour   (our)   
n.   Abbr. hr.
  1. One of the 24 equal parts of a day.
    1. One of the points on a timepiece marking off 12 or 24 successive intervals of 60 minutes, from midnight to noon and noon to midnight or from midnight to midnight.
    2. The time of day indicated by a 12-hour clock.
    3. hours The time of day determined on a 24-hour basis: 1730 hours is 5:30 P.M.
    4. A customary or fixed time: the dinner hour.
    5. hours A set period of time for a specified activity: banking hours.
    6. A particular time: their hour of need.
    7. A significant time: Her hour had come.
    8. The present time: the man of the hour.
    9. The work that can be accomplished in an hour.
    10. The distance that can be traveled in an hour.
    11. A single session of a school day or class.
    12. A credit hour.
  3. A unit of measure of longitude or right ascension, equal to 15° or 1/24 of a great circle.
    1. A customary or fixed time: the dinner hour.
    2. hours A set period of time for a specified activity: banking hours.
    3. A particular time: their hour of need.
    4. A significant time: Her hour had come.
    5. The present time: the man of the hour.
    6. The work that can be accomplished in an hour.
    7. The distance that can be traveled in an hour.
    8. A single session of a school day or class.
    9. A credit hour.
    1. A particular time: their hour of need.
    2. A significant time: Her hour had come.
    3. The present time: the man of the hour.
    4. The work that can be accomplished in an hour.
    5. The distance that can be traveled in an hour.
    6. A single session of a school day or class.
    7. A credit hour.
    1. The work that can be accomplished in an hour.
    2. The distance that can be traveled in an hour.
    3. A single session of a school day or class.
    4. A credit hour.
    1. A single session of a school day or class.
    2. A credit hour.
  8. hours Ecclesiastical The canonical hours.

[Middle English, from Old French houre, from Latin hōra, from Greek hōrā, season, time; see yēr- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Hours

Hours\, n. pl. [A translation of L. Horae (Gr. ?). See Hour.] (Myth.) Goddess of the seasons, or of the hours of the day.

Lo! where the rosy-blosomed Hours, Fair Venus' train, appear. --Gray.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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hour   (our)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. A unit of time equal to one of the 24 equal parts of a day; 60 minutes. ◇ A sidereal hour is 1/24 of a sidereal day, and a mean solar hour is 1/24 of a mean solar day. See more at sidereal time, solar time.
  2. A unit of measure of longitude or right ascension, equal to 15° or 1/24 of a great circle.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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