hour

/aʊər/

/ˈaʊə/

Other forms: hours

An hour is a unit of time — it's sixty minutes, 3,600 seconds, or the length it takes the long hand on your watch to move in a full circle.

If your math class lasts an hour, it might start at 9:30 and end at 10:30, one hour later. Hour also means "time of day." If your phone rings at two a.m., you could ask, "Why are you calling at such a late hour, Mom?" The word stems from the Old French hore, "one-twelfth of a day," with its roots in the Latin hora, "hour" or "season," and Greek hora, "the season."

Definitions of hour

1. noun

   a period of time equal to 1/24th of a day
   “the job will take more than an hour”

   synonyms: 60 minutes, hr

   types:

   sidereal hour

   1/24 of a sidereal day

   man hour, person hour

   a time unit used in industry for measuring work

   type of:

   time unit, unit of time

   a unit for measuring time periods
2. noun

   distance measured by the time taken to cover it
   “we live an hour from the airport”

   synonyms: minute

   type of:

   distance

   the property created by the space between two objects or points
3. noun

   clock time
   “the hour is getting late”

   synonyms: time of day

   types:

   high noon, midday, noon, noonday, noontide, twelve noon

   the middle of the day

   mealtime

   the hour at which a meal is habitually or customarily eaten

   late-night hour

   the latter part of night

   midnight

   12 o'clock at night; the middle of the night

   small hours

   the hours just after midnight

   bedtime

   the time you go to bed

   closing time

   the regular time of day when an establishment closes to the public

   aurora, break of day, break of the day, cockcrow, dawn, dawning, daybreak, dayspring, first light, morning, sunrise, sunup

   the first light of day

   early-morning hour

   an hour early in the morning

   sundown, sunset

   the time in the evening at which the sun begins to fall below the horizon

   crepuscle, crepuscule, dusk, evenfall, fall, gloam, gloaming, nightfall, twilight

   the time of day immediately following sunset

   none

   a canonical hour that is the ninth hour of the day counting from sunrise

   happy hour

   the time of day when a bar sells alcoholic drinks at a reduced price

   rush hour

   the times at the beginning and end of the working day when many people are traveling to or from work

   zero hour

   the time set for the start of an action or operation

   canonical hour

   (Roman Catholic Church) one of seven specified times for prayer

   breakfast time

   the customary or habitual hour for eating breakfast

   lunch period, lunchtime

   the customary or habitual hour for eating lunch

   dinnertime, suppertime

   the customary or habitual hour for the evening meal

   lights-out

   a prescribed bedtime

   night

   a shortening of nightfall

   matins, morning prayer

   the first canonical hour; at daybreak

   prime

   the second canonical hour; about 6 a.m.

   terce, tierce

   the third canonical hour; about 9 a.m.

   sext

   the fourth of the seven canonical hours; about noon

   nones

   the fifth of the seven canonical hours; about 3 p.m.

   evensong, vespers

   the sixth of the seven canonical hours of the divine office; early evening; now often made a public service on Sundays

   complin, compline

   last of the seven canonical hours just before retiring

   type of:

   clock time, time

   a reading of a point in time as given by a clock
4. noun

   a special and memorable period
   “it was their finest hour”

   type of:

   period, period of time, time period

   an amount of time