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.)
Defn: 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 15º, 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.
HOURGLASS
Hour"glass`, n.
Defn: An instrument for measuring time, especially the interval of an hour. It consists of a glass vessel having two compartments, from the uppermost of which a quantity of sand, water, or mercury occupies an hour in running through a small aperture unto the lower.
Note: A similar instrument measuring any other interval of time takes its name from the interval measured; as, a half-hour glass, a half- minute glass. A three-minute glass is sometimes called an egg-glass, from being used to time the boiling of eggs.
HOURI Hou"ri, n.; pl. Houris. Etym: [Per. huri, hura, hur; akin to Ar. hur, pl. of ahwar beautiful-eyed, black-eyed.]
Defn: A nymph of paradise; — so called by the Mohammedans.