Hour Meaning
/aʊə/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA unit of time of one twenty-fourth of a day (sixty minutes).
nounA season, moment, or time.
Sentence Examples
I have to go shopping. I'll be back in an hour.
I have so much work that I will stay for one more hour.
I spent an hour on the phone.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The science exam lasted exactly one ____ this afternoon, from 2 to 3 PM.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We have been waiting at the busy train station for over an ____ for our connection.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English houre, hour, oure, from Old French houre, from Latin hōra (“hour”), from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “any time or period, whether of the year, month, or day”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”). Akin to Old English ġēar (“year”). Doublet of hora and year. Compare horary. Partly displaced native Old English tīd (“time, hour”), whence Modern English tide.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]"
— 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond:
"It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy."
— 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
"[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes. The truth is that Newton was very much a product of his time."
— 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892, archived from the original on 09 Jan 2025:
"From childhood's hour I have not been / As others were; I have not seen / As others saw; I could not bring / My passions from a common spring."
— c. 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Alone”, in Archived copy, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2017:
"Now will be a good hour to show you Milly Erne's grave."
— 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 3, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The science exam lasted exactly one ____ this afternoon, from 2 to 3 PM.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We have been waiting at the busy train station for over an ____ for our connection.