Hour

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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     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?
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     3. Fixed or appointed time; conjuncture; a particular time or
        occasion; as, the hour of greatest peril; the man for the
        hour.
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              Woman, . . . mine hour is not yet come. --John ii.
                                                    4.
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              This is your hour, and the power of darkness. --Luke
                                                    xxii. 53.
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     4. pl. (R. C. Ch.) Certain prayers to be repeated at stated
        times of the day, as matins and vespers.
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     5. A measure of distance traveled.
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              Vilvoorden, three hours from Brussels. --J. P.
                                                    Peters.
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     {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.
  
     {To keep good hours}, to be regular in going to bed early.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  hour
       n 1: a period of time equal to 1/24th of a day; "the job will
            take more than an hour" [syn: {hr}, {60 minutes}]
       2: clock time; "the hour is getting late" [syn: {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: {minute}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  67 Moby Thesaurus words for "hour":
     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
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Hour
     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.
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  HOUR measure of time. The space of sixty minutes, or the twenty-fourth part 
  of a natural day. Vide Date; Fraction; and Co. Litt. 135; 3 Chit. Pr. 110.