a period regularly or customarily appointed for work, business, etc
2.
one's times of rising and going to bed (esp in the phrases keep regular, irregular, or late hours)
3.
an indefinite period of time
4. Also called (in the Roman Catholic Church): canonical hours
a.
the seven times of the day laid down for the recitation of the prayers of the divine office
b.
the prayers recited at these times
5. the small hours
6. till all hours
Hours in British English
(aʊəz)
plural noun
another word for the Horae
Hours in American English
(aʊrz)
plural noun
Greek Mythology
the goddesses of the seasons, justice, order, etc.
Word origin
see hour
More idioms containing
hours
at all hours
Examples of 'hours' in a sentence
hours
She felt drowsy, needed to lie down after a long day, after long hours spent running around in her head.
Robert Wilson THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS (2002)
Now all of a sudden you're in here all the time working twelve hours a day or whatever.
Hugo Wilcken THE EXECUTION (2002)
Hours ago, it nearly killed me; now, it is all healing warmth.
LeCompte, Jane MOON PASSAGE (1990)
All related terms of 'hours'
hour
An hour is a period of sixty minutes.
wee hours
the first few hours after midnight
after-hours
You use after-hours to describe activities which happen after the end of the usual time for them.
extra hours
If you refer to the hours involved in a job , you are talking about how long you spend each week doing it and when you do it.
final hours
An hour is a period of sixty minutes .
late hours
rising and going to bed later than is usual
peak hours
the busiest hours , as during traffic , etc; rush hour
small hours
If something happens in the small hours , it happens soon after midnight , in the very early morning .
banking hours
the hours during which a bank is open for business
endless hours
An hour is a period of sixty minutes .
little hours
the canonical hours of prime , terce , sext , and nones in the divine office
office hours
Office hours are the times when an office or similar place is open for business. For example , office hours in Britain are usually between 9 o'clock and 5 o'clock from Monday to Friday .
opening hours
Opening hours are the times during which a shop , bank , library , or bar is open for business.
school hours
the period of the day when school is open
surgery hours
the period of time each day when a doctor's surgery or office is open
waking hours
Your waking hours are the times when you are awake rather than asleep.
at all hours
If you say that something happens at all hours of the day or night , you disapprove of it happening at the time that it does or as often as it does.
business hours
Business hours are the hours of the day in which a shop or a company is open for business.
canonical hours
a period regularly or customarily appointed for work, business, etc
countless hours
An hour is a period of sixty minutes .
daylight hours
the hours when it is daylight
flexible hours
If you refer to the hours involved in a job , you are talking about how long you spend each week doing it and when you do it.
licensing hours
hours during which alcoholic drinks may be sold legally
out of hours
Something that happens out of hours happens at a time that is not during the usual hours of business or work.
shopping hours
the times during which shops are open
staggered hours
a system of working in which the employees of an organization do not all arrive and leave at the same time, but have large periods of overlap
twilight hours
the period in which there occurs soft diffused light due to the sun being just below the horizon , esp following sunset
visiting hours
the times when people are allowed into an institution such as a hospital to visit patients
book of hours
a book used esp in monasteries during the Middle Ages that contained the prayers and offices of the canonical hours
consulting hours
the hours during which health practitioners are available for consultation
till all hours
until very late
long-hours culture
The long-hours culture is the way in which some workers feel that they are expected to work much longer hours than they are paid to do.
the small hours
If something happens in the early hours or in the small hours , it happens in the early morning after midnight.
twenty-four hours
the time taken by the Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis ; a whole day
wee small hours
the hours just after midnight
half-hour
a period of 30 minutes
Horae
the goddesses of the seasons
man-hour
A man-hour is the average amount of work that one person can do in an hour. Man-hours are used to estimate how long jobs take, or how many people are needed to do a job in a particular time.
rush hour
The rush hour is one of the periods of the day when most people are travelling to or from work.
watt-hour
a unit of energy equal to a power of one watt operating for one hour . 1 watt-hour equals 3600 joules
Whr
watt-hour
zero hour
the time set for the start of an attack or the initial stage of an operation
after-hours drinking
drinking in a pub after its legal closing time
zero-hours contract
A zero-hours contract is a contract where the employer does not have to provide regular work for the employee, but the employee has to be on call in case they are needed to work.
happy hour
In a pub, happy hour is a period when drinks are sold more cheaply than usual to encourage people to come to the pub.
lunch hour
Your lunch hour is the period in the middle of the day when you stop working, usually for one hour, in order to have a meal .
at two hours' notice
with notification only two hours in advance
Liturgy of the Hours
a revision ( promulgated in 1970) of the arrangement and texts of the Divine Office
ampere-hour
a practical unit of quantity of electricity ; the quantity that flows in one hour through a conductor carrying a current of 1 ampere . 1 ampere-hour is equivalent to 3600 coulombs
credit hour
A credit hour is a credit that a school or college awards to students who have completed a course of study.