London was an hour away and by the time I arrived the operation had already beenperformed.
2. plural noun
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.
[emphasis]
Getting there would take hours.
3. singular noun
A clock that strikes the hour strikes when it is exactly one o'clock, two o'clock, and so on.
4. singular noun
You can refer to a particular time or moment as a particular hour.
[literary]
...the hour of his execution. [+ of]
The gathering storm had made the day even darker than was usual at this hour.
5. countable noun
If you refer, for example, to someone's hourof need or hourof happiness, you are referring to the time in their life when they are or were experiencing that condition or feeling.
[literary]
He was one of the first people to stand by me in my hour of need.
...the darkest hour of my professional life. [+ of]
6. plural noun
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. [+ of]
Phone us on this number during office hours.
...outside prison visiting hours.
7. plural noun
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.
The job was easy; the hours were good.
8. eleventh hour, lunch hour, rush hour
9.
See after hours
10. See also after-hours
11.
See at all hours
12.
See the small hours
13.
See hour after hour
14.
See on the hour
15.
See past the hour/before the hour
16.
See out of hours
hour in British English
(aʊə)
noun
1.
a period of time equal to 3600 seconds; 1⁄24th of a calendar day
▶ Related adjectives: horal, horary
2.
any of the points on the face of a timepiece that indicate intervals of 60 minutes
3. the hour
4.
the time of day as indicated by a watch, clock, etc
5.
the period of time allowed for or used for something
the lunch hour
the hour of prayer
6.
a special moment or period
our finest hour
7. the hour
8.
the distance covered in an hour
we live an hour from the city
9. astronomy
an angular measurement of right ascension equal to 15° or a 24th part of the celestial equator
10. one's hour
11. take one's hour
Word origin
C13: from Old French hore, from Latin hōra, from Greek: season
hour in American English
(aʊr)
noun
1.
a.
a division of time, one of the twenty-four parts of a day; sixty minutes
b.
one of the twelve points on a clock, watch, etc. marking the beginning or end of such a division
the ninth hour
2.
a point or period of time
; specif.,
a.
a fixed point or period of time for a particular activity, occasion, etc.
the dinner hour
b.
an indefinite period of time of a specified kind
his finest hour
c. [pl.]
a period fixed for work, receiving patients, etc.
office hours from 2 to 5
d. [pl.]
the usual times for getting up or going to bed
to keep late hours
3.
the time of day as indicated by a timepiece or as reckoned from midnight to midnight, expressed in hours and minutes
arrival at 14:30 hours
4.
a measure of the distance usually covered in an hour
two hours from New York to Philadelphia by rail
5. Astronomy
a sidereal hour; angular unit equaling 15° measured along the celestial equator
6. Ecclesiastical
a canonical hour or the prayers then said
see also breviary
7. US, Education
a class session of approximately one hour: each hour of a course per week is a unit of academic credit
Idioms:
after hours
hour after hour
hour by hour
of the hour
one's hour
Word origin
ME < OFr hore < L hora < Gr hōra, hour, time, period, season < IE base *yē-, year, summer (< *ei-, to go) > year
More idioms containing
hour
at the eleventh hour
COBUILD Collocations
hour
countless hours
darkest hour
endless hours
extra hours
final hours
flexible hours
Examples of 'hour' in a sentence
hour
The printing plants were raided in the early hours without explanation.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
He lives an hour away and his business means he must stay in his area.
The Sun (2016)
Symptoms can be delayed for up to an hour after a sting.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The rescue helicopter was with us in about two hours.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
There were times when an hour seemed a long time in politics.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Leave to set for about one hour.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The journey takes five and a half hours.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Hunters knew my life secrets within hours... could you give them the slip?
The Sun (2016)
I was fasting in the morning for hours before a job.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
She wrote on Twitter that the past 24 hours had been gruelling.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Christianity Today (2000)
Your skin may be red and slightly sensitive for a few hours after treatment.
Sedgbeer, Sandra The A-Z of Beauty Treatment (1994)
We have put precise protocols in place governing the texting of whereabouts during the hours of darkness.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
No hour of the clock was where it was supposed to be.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
He spent hours wasting away in a hot bath.
The Sun (2008)
We have been talking for two hours and are now sitting entirely in the dark.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
The department store put the trend down to women in the capital working longer hours.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
They were less thrilled when the party was still going strong in the early hours.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
We could send out way more jobs per hour.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
They stayed for about half an hour and were very relaxed.
The Sun (2012)
Within two hours his condition had improved enough for him to be able to have a transplant.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
It was the longest hour of my life.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
But hours after being quizzed she was again said to have been placed on psychiatric hold.
The Sun (2015)
We flew in total darkness for three hours.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
It takes one day to move your body clock one hour.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Dubrovnik airport is two and a half hours away.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Some of these individuals will say that they lost their heart in two hours.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
His team insisted it was due to working long hours and training hard in the gym.
The Sun (2016)
How he sustains a performance of more than two hours at his time of life is something of a mystery.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
It is recommended that guests who enter an intensive full treatment programme bathe twice a day for one hour at a time.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
There have been two earth tremors here in the past 48 hours.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
But when we got past 75 hours we decided to call it a day.
The Sun (2011)
She needed the operation in eight hours' time and it seemed impossible.
The Sun (2015)
In other languages
hour
British English: hour /aʊə/ NOUN
An hour is a period of sixty minutes.
The journey took three hours.
American English: hour
Arabic: سَاعَةٌ
Brazilian Portuguese: hora
Chinese: 小时
Croatian: sat
Czech: hodina
Danish: time
Dutch: uur
European Spanish: hora
Finnish: tunti
French: heure
German: Stunde
Greek: ώρα μονάδα χρόνου
Italian: ora
Japanese: 一時間
Korean: 시간
Norwegian: time
Polish: godzina
European Portuguese: hora
Romanian: oră
Russian: час
Latin American Spanish: hora
Swedish: timme
Thai: ชั่วโมง
Turkish: saat zaman
Ukrainian: година
Vietnamese: giờ
All related terms of 'hour'
H-hour
the specific hour at which any operation commences
half-hour
a period of 30 minutes
Holy Hour
an hour set aside for prayer and reflection
hour hand
the pointer on a timepiece that indicates the hour
man-hour
A man-hour is the average amount of work that one person can do in an hour. Man-hours are used to estimate how long jobs take, or how many people are needed to do a job in a particular time.
off-hour
not occurring during or pertaining to rush hour , regular business hours, or other busy periods of time
peak-hour
during the busiest hours ; used esp of traffic and demand for gas, electricity etc
rush hour
The rush hour is one of the periods of the day when most people are travelling to or from work.
the hour
an exact number of complete hours
watt-hour
a unit of energy equal to a power of one watt operating for one hour . 1 watt-hour equals 3600 joules
zero hour
the time set for the start of an attack or the initial stage of an operation
hour by hour
each hour
ampere-hour
a practical unit of quantity of electricity ; the quantity that flows in one hour through a conductor carrying a current of 1 ampere . 1 ampere-hour is equivalent to 3600 coulombs
credit hour
A credit hour is a credit that a school or college awards to students who have completed a course of study.
dinner hour
lunch hour
golden hour
the first hour after a serious accident , when it is crucial that the victim receives medical treatment in order to have a chance of surviving
happy hour
In a pub, happy hour is a period when drinks are sold more cheaply than usual to encourage people to come to the pub.
hour angle
the angular distance along the celestial equator from the meridian of the observer to the hour circle of a particular celestial body
hour circle
a great circle on the celestial sphere passing through the celestial poles and a specified point, such as a star
lunch hour
Your lunch hour is the period in the middle of the day when you stop working, usually for one hour, in order to have a meal .
one's hour
a time of success , fame , etc
cocktail hour
the interval before the evening meal during which cocktails and other alcoholic beverages were traditionally served
darkest hour
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.
eleventh hour
If someone does something at the eleventh hour , they do it at the last possible moment .
kilowatt-hour
A kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy that is equal to the energy provided by a thousand watts in one hour.
literacy hour
(in England and Wales ) a daily reading and writing lesson that was introduced into the national primary school curriculum in 1998 to raise standards of literacy
megawatt hour
a unit of energy equal to the work done by a power of a million watts in one hour
quarter-hour
a period of 15 minutes
sidereal hour
a 24th part of a sidereal day
witching hour
midnight
working hour
work-hour
canonical hour
one of the seven prayer times appointed for each day by canon law
half an hour
a period of 30 minutes
horsepower-hour
an fps unit of work or energy equal to the work done by 1 horsepower in 1 hour . 1 horsepower-hour is equivalent to 2.686 × 10 6 joules
of the hour
most prominent at this time
on the hour
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.
hour after hour
If you say that someone does something hour after hour , you are emphasizing that they do it continually for a long time.
milliampere-hour
a practical unit of quantity of electricity ; the quantity that flows in one hour through a conductor carrying a current of one thousandth of an ampere
one's last hour
the time of one's death
rush-hour traffic
the large number of vehicles that move along roads , travelling to or from work at the beginning and end of the working day
take one's hour
to do something in a leisurely manner
the witching hour
the hour at which witches are supposed to appear, usually midnight
twenty-four-hour
lasting for twenty-four hours
hourglass
An hourglass is a device that was used to measure the passing of an hour . It has two round glass sections linked by a narrow channel, and contains sand which takes an hour to flow from the top section into the lower one.
hourlong
lasting an hour
flower-of-an-hour
a malvaceous Old World herbaceous plant, Hibiscus trionum , having pale yellow flowers with a bladder-like calyx
the evil day/hour
If someone is putting off the evil day or the evil hour , they have to do something unpleasant and are trying to avoid doing it for as long as possible.
triple witching hour
the last hour of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the four Fridays each year when stock options , stock index futures , and options on such futures simultaneously expire : regarded as a time of extreme volatility in trading
at the eleventh hour
very late or at the last possible moment
amateur night
an entertainment featuring amateur performers, often in competition for prizes
Chinese translation of 'hour'
hour
(ˈauəʳ)
n
(c)小时(時) (xiǎoshí) (个(個), gè)
(s) (frm, = time) 时(時)间(間) (shíjiān)
⇒ The hour of his execution was approaching.处决他的时间快到了。 (Chǔjué tā de shíjiān kuài dào le.)