hour. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

hour

PRONUNCIATION:	our
NOUN:	abbr. hr. 1. One of the 24 equal parts of a day. 2a. One of the points on a timepiece marking off 12 or 24 successive intervals of 60 minutes, from midnight to noon and noon to midnight or from midnight to midnight. b. The time of day indicated by a 12-hour clock. c. hours The time of day determined on a 24-hour basis: 1730 hours is 5:30 p.m. 3. A unit of measure of longitude or right ascension, equal to 15° or ¹/₂₄ of a great circle. 4a. A customary or fixed time: the dinner hour. b. hours A set period of time for a specified activity: banking hours. 5a. A particular time: their hour of need. b. A significant time: Her hour had come. c. The present time: the man of the hour. 6a. The work that can be accomplished in an hour. b. The distance that can be traveled in an hour. 7a. A single session of a school day or class. b. A credit hour. 8. hours Ecclesiastical The canonical hours.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English, from Old French houre, from Latin hra, from Greek hr, season, time. See yr- in Appendix I.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.