before the hour

idiom

—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

When leaving the store, be sure to head across the street right before the hour to watch the clock chime—Mr. Fortnum pops out to bow to Mr. Mason. For Foodies Although English cuisine is often overlooked, London is a surprisingly robust foodie destination. —Ellen Lecompte, Travel + Leisure, 22 July 2025

After a series of corner kicks, just before the hour mark that Suriname was able to defend, Mexico finally broke through. —Jon Arnold, New York Times, 19 June 2025

After coming on as a sub just before the hour in the 5-1 pre-Christmas win against Crystal Palace, Rice put in a high-energy cameo that has been the template for his performances since. —Jordan Campbell, The Athletic, 20 Feb. 2025

Endrick Felipe has only started one game for Real Madrid and was hauled off before the hour mark in the away defeat to Lille, but has been promising in his substitute appearances with debut goals in La Liga and the Champions League. —Sam Leveridge, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024

Rhymes for before the hour

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