before the hour

phrase

—used with a certain number of minutes to indicate how long before the beginning of an hour something will happen

Trains leave the station every hour at ten minutes before the hour.

Examples of before the hour in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Coach Didier Deschamps, to be fair, acted relatively quickly, throwing Doue on for Barcola before the hour mark. — Jack Lang, New York Times, 14 July 2026

The European side then notched up a third goal from Hans Vanaken just before the hour mark, before Romelu Lukaku wrapped up the victory with a late strike in injury time. — Lee Ying Shan,lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 7 July 2026

Ekitike replaced Isak just before the hour mark and was involved immediately, holding the ball up impressively and pressing the opposition intensely, much to the delight of the fans, who sang his name. — James Nalton, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025

Angel City trailed Racing Louisville FC twice, including by two goals just before the hour mark. — Damian Calhoun, Daily News, 25 May 2025

Rhymes for before the hour

• airpower
• brainpower
• devour
• empower
• firepower
• horsepower
• manpower
• mayflower
• safflower
• sunflower
• wallflower
• watchtower