hour

\ ˈau̇(-ə)r

Definition of hour

1 : a time or office for daily liturgical devotion especially : canonical hour

2 : the 24th part of a day : 60 minutes

3a : the time of day reckoned in two 12-hour periods

b hours plural : the time reckoned in one 24-hour period from midnight to midnight using a 4-digit number of which the first two digits indicate the hour and the last two digits indicate the minute in the military 4:30 p.m. is called 1630 hours

4a : a customary or particular time lunch hour in our hour of need also : moment sense 1b hero of the hour

b hours plural : time of going to bed keeps late hours also : time of working banker's hours

5 : an angular unit of right ascension equal to 15 degrees measured along the celestial equator

6 : the work done or distance traveled at normal rate in an hour the city was two hours away

7a : a class session

b : credit hour, semester hour

after hours

: after the regular quitting or closing time

Examples of hour in a Sentence

She wasn't supposed to eat for six hours before the operation. You'll be paid by the hour for this job. The job pays ten dollars an hour. She exercises for a full hour every day. She was half an hour late. They arrived a few hours later. The project required long hours of work. The mood changed from hour to hour. These animals are most active in the hour just before sunrise. You can call me at any hour of the day or night.

Recent Examples on the Web Self-powered rentals are available for kayak, rowboat, canoe or pedal boat, $12 per hour or $39 all day. — Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, "Sunday getaway to San Pablo Reservoir," 9 Feb. 2020 Zobayan was a regular pilot for Bryant and the chief pilot for Island Express Helicopters, with more than 8,200 hours of flight time. — Washington Post, "Kobe Bryant helicopter had nearly cleared blinding clouds," 8 Feb. 2020 Borden says the process took seven years and 2,000 hours of building progressively larger fireworks. — Caroline Catherman And Christina Zdanowicz, CNN, "These men are trying to break the world record for the largest firework," 7 Feb. 2020 Anna Paquin says a single line in the more than three-and-a-half hour The Irishman, while Margot Robbie, who plays actress Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, is seen more often than heard. — Lila Thulin, Smithsonian Magazine, "Nine Women Whose Remarkable Lives Deserve the Biopic Treatment," 7 Feb. 2020 The catch is students have to complete 60 credit hours of courses for an associate degree at Gateway Community and Technical College first. — Chris Mayhew, Cincinnati.com, "Northern Kentucky University makes college free for students graduating from 6 high schools," 5 Feb. 2020 Some dreamy Bucheron during the drinking-and-immediate-gossip hour will distract from my howling in the kitchen. — Maggie Lange, Bon Appétit, "How to Throw a Weeknight Dinner Party Without, Quite Simply, Perishing," 5 Feb. 2020 Naturally, one of the highlights of the hour was Emily Bett Rickards’ return as Felicity Smoak. — Chancellor Agard, EW.com, "Arrow bosses, star break down the series finale: Green Lantern tease, the final scene, and more," 29 Jan. 2020 Health care providers who complete 2 hours of online training are encouraged to screen children up to age 18 for ACEs. — Emily Underwood, Science | AAAS, "California has begun screening for early childhood trauma, but critics urge caution," 29 Jan. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hour.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.