hour

hour

W1S1 [auə US aur] n

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1¦(60 minutes)¦

2¦(business/work etc)¦

3 (work) long/regular etc hours

4¦(time of day)¦

5¦(long time)¦

6¦(o'clock)¦

7 1300/1530/1805 etc hours

8 by the hour/from hour to hour

9 lunch/dinner hour

10¦(important time)¦

11 of the hour

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[Date: 1100-1200; : Old French; Origin: heure, from Latin hora, from Greek]

1.) ¦(60 MINUTES)¦

written abbreviation hr

a unit for measuring time. There are 60 minutes in one hour, and 24 hours in one day.

▪ The interview will last about two hours.

▪ I study for an hour every night.

▪ I'll be back in three hours .

▪ Three hours later he was back.

▪ Her bag was stolen within hours of her arrival.

▪ You weren't interested in my story a half hour ago.

▪ It takes about a quarter of an hour to walk into town.

hour of

▪ After four hours of talks, an agreement was reached.

▪ The hotel is only an hour's drive from the airport.

▪ a top speed of 120 miles an hour

▪ This was freelance work, paid by the hour .

▪ a five- hour delay

2.) ¦(BUSINESS/WORK ETC)¦

hours [plural]

a fixed period of time in the day when a particular activity, business etc happens

▪ hours of business 9.00-5.00

office/opening hours

▪ Please call during office hours.

working hours/hours of work

▪ the advantages of flexible working hours

visiting hours

(=the time when you can visit someone in hospital)

after hours

(=after the time when a business, especially a bar, is supposed to close)

3.) (work) long/regular etc hours

if you work long, regular etc hours, the period that you work is longer than usual, always the same etc

▪ the long hours worked by hospital doctors

▪ Many hospital staff have to work unsocial hours (=work in the evenings so that you cannot spend time with family or friends) .

work all the hours God sends

(=work all the time that you can)

4.) ¦(TIME OF DAY)¦

a particular period or point of time during the day or night

in the early/small hours (of the morning)

(=between around midnight and two or three o'clock in the morning)

▪ There was a knock on the door in the early hours of the morning.

▪ Who can be calling at this late hour ? (=used when you are surprised or annoyed by how late at night or early in the morning something is)

daylight/daytime hours

▪ The park is open during daylight hours.

the hours of darkness/daylight

literary

▪ Few people dared to venture out during the hours of darkness.

unearthly/ungodly hour

(=used when you are complaining about how early or late something is)

▪ We had to get up at some ungodly hour to catch a plane.

at all hours/at any hour (of the day or night)

(=at any time)

▪ If you have a problem, you know you can call at any hour of the day or night.

▪ She's up studying till all hours (=until unreasonably late at night) .

→waking hours/life/day etc at ↑waking

5.) ¦(LONG TIME)¦ [usually plural] informal

a long time or a time that seems long

▪ We had to spend hours filling in forms.

for hours (on end)

▪ It'll keep the children amused for hours on end.

▪ a really boring lecture that went on for hours and hours

▪ She lay awake for hour after hour (=for many hours, continuously) .

6.) ¦(O'CLOCK)¦

the time of the day when a new hour starts, for example one o'clock, two o'clock etc

strike/chime the hour

(=if a clock strikes the hour, it rings, to show that it is one o'clock, seven o'clock etc)

(every hour) on the hour

(=every hour at six o'clock, seven o'clock etc)

▪ There are flights to Boston every hour on the hour.

10/20 etc minutes before/after the hour

AmE (=used on national radio or television in order to give the time without saying which hour it is, because the broadcast may be coming from a different time zone)

▪ It's twelve minutes before the hour, and you're listening to the Morning Edition on NPR.

7.) 1300/1530/1805 etc hours

used to give the time in official or military reports and orders

▪ The helicopters lifted off at 0600 hours.

8.) by the hour/from hour to hour

if a situation is changing by the hour or from hour to hour, it is changing very quickly and very often

▪ This financial crisis is growing more serious by the hour.

9.) lunch/dinner hour

the period in the middle of the day when people stop work for a meal

▪ I usually do the crossword in my lunch hour.

10.)¦(IMPORTANT TIME)¦ [usually singular]

an important moment or period in history or in your life

sb's finest/greatest/darkest hour

▪ This was our country's finest hour.

sb's hour of need/glory etc

(=a time when someone needs help, is very successful etc)

▪ Don't desert me in my hour of need.

11.) of the hour

important at a particular time, especially the present time

▪ one of the burning questions of the hour

the hero/man of the hour

(=someone who does something very brave, is very successful etc at a particular time)

→the eleventh hour at ↑eleventh¹ (2), ↑hourly, ↑happy hour, ↑rush hour, ↑zero hour

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COLLOCATES for sense 1

for an hour/two hours/three hours etc

in an hour/in an hour's time (=when an hour has passed)

an hour/two hours etc later

an hour/two hours etc ago/earlier

within hours (of something) (=only a few hours after something)

half an hour also a half hour American English

(a) quarter of an hour

three quarters of an hour

an hour's work (=work that it took you an hour to do)

an hour's walk/drive

miles/kilometres per hour (=used in speeds)

£10/$5.50 etc an hour (=used to say how much someone is paid or how much you pay to use something)

pay/charge by the hour (=pay or charge someone according to the number of hours it takes to do something)

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