hour S1 W1 /aʊə $ aʊr/ noun [countable]
[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old French; Origin: heure, from Latin hora, from Greek]

1. 60 MINUTES (written abbreviation hr) a unit for measuring time. There are 60 minutes in one hour, and 24 hours in one day:
The interview will last about two hours.
I study for an hour every night.
I’ll be back in three hours.
Three hours later he was back.
Her bag was stolen within hours of her arrival.
You weren’t interested in my story a half hour ago.
It takes about a quarter of an hour to walk into town.
hour of
After four hours of talks, an agreement was reached.
The hotel is only an hour’s drive from the airport.
a top speed of 120 miles an hour
This was freelance work, paid by the hour.
a five-hour delay

2. BUSINESS/WORK ETC hours [plural] a fixed period of time in the day when a particular activity, business etc happens:
hours of business 9.00–5.00
office/opening hours
Please call during office hours.
working hours/hours of work
the advantages of flexible working hours
visiting hours (=the time when you can visit someone in hospital)
after hours (=after the time when a business, especially a bar, is supposed to close)

3. long/regular/late etc hours used to say how long someone works or does things every day, or when they work or do things:
the long hours worked by hospital doctors
Many hospital staff have to work unsocial hours (=work in the evenings so that they cannot spend time with family or friends).
She knew that he kept late hours (=stayed up late).
work all the hours God sends (=work all the time that you can)

4. TIME OF DAY a particular period or point of time during the day or night
in the early/small hours (of the morning) (=between around midnight and two or three o'clock in the morning)
There was a knock on the door in the early hours of the morning.
Who can be calling at this late hour? (=used when you are surprised or annoyed by how late at night or early in the morning something is)
daylight/daytime hours
The park is open during daylight hours.
the hours of darkness/daylight literary:
Few people dared to venture out during the hours of darkness.
unearthly/ungodly hour (=used when you are complaining about how early or late something is)
We had to get up at some ungodly hour to catch a plane.
at all hours/at any hour (of the day or night) (=at any time)
If you have a problem, you know you can call at any hour of the day or night.
She’s up studying till all hours (=until unreasonably late at night). ⇒ waking hours/life/day etc at waking

5. LONG TIME [usually plural] informal a long time or a time that seems long:
We had to spend hours filling in forms.
for hours (on end)
It’ll keep the children amused for hours on end.
a really boring lecture that went on for hours and hours
She lay awake for hour after hour (=for many hours, continuously).

6. O'CLOCK the time of the day when a new hour starts, for example one o'clock, two o'clock etc
strike/chime the hour (=if a clock strikes the hour, it rings, to show that it is one o'clock, seven o'clock etc)
(every hour) on the hour (=every hour at six o'clock, seven o'clock etc)
There are flights to Boston every hour on the hour.
10/20 etc minutes before/after the hour American English (=used on national radio or television in order to give the time without saying which hour it is, because the broadcast may be coming from a different time zone)
It’s twelve minutes before the hour, and you’re listening to Morning Edition on NPR.

7. 1300/1530/1805 etc hours used to give the time in official or military reports and orders:
The helicopters lifted off at 0600 hours.

8. by the hour/from hour to hour if a situation is changing by the hour or from hour to hour, it is changing very quickly and very often:
This financial crisis is growing more serious by the hour.

9. lunch/dinner hour the period in the middle of the day when people stop work for a meal:
I usually do the crossword in my lunch hour.

10. IMPORTANT TIME [usually singular] an important moment or period in history or in your life
sb’s finest/greatest/darkest hour
This was our country’s finest hour.
sb’s hour of need/glory etc (=a time when someone needs help, is very successful etc)

11. of the hour important at a particular time, especially the present time:
one of the burning questions of the hour
the hero/man of the hour (=someone who does something very brave, is very successful etc at a particular time)
⇒ the eleventh hour at eleventh¹(2), ⇒ hourly, happy hour, rush hour, zero hour

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

hour
noun
I. period of sixty minutes
ADJ. solid I slept for eight solid hours.
VERB + HOUR take It takes two hours to get to London.
spend | last The performance lasted three hours.
gain, lose You gain five hours when you fly from New York to London.
HOUR + VERB go by, pass An hour passed and she still hadn't arrived.
PREP. by the ~ They're paid by the hour.
for an ~ She worked for three hours.
in/within an ~ I should be back within a couple of hours.
over/under an ~ He's been gone for over an hour.
per ~ Top speed is 120 miles per hour. | within the ~ We hope to be there within the hour (= in less than an hour).
~ of There are still two hours of daylight left.
PHRASES half an hour, hour after hour, an hour's time, with every passing hour She grew more worried with every passing hour.
 ⇒ Note at MEASURE

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

hour
II. the hour: time when a new hour starts
VERB + HOUR chime, strike The clock struck the hour.
PREP. on the ~ Buses leave every hour on the hour.
past the ~ ten minutes past the hour
to the ~ ten minutes to the hour

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

hour
III. time when you do a particular activity
ADJ. lunch | peak, rush rush-hour traffic
VERB + HOUR spend I spent my lunch hour shopping.
PREP. ~ of an hour of rest

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

hour
IV. hours: time when sb is working/a shop is open
ADJ. office, opening, working | licensing, visiting Britain's licensing hours (= when pubs are allowed to open) the hospital's visiting hours
flexible | long | regular
VERB + HOUR work She works very long hours.
keep He keeps regular hours.
PREP. after ~ He spends a lot of time in his office after hours.
out of ~ Doctors often have to work out of hours.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

hour
V. time when sth happens
ADJ. darkest, finest This was often thought of as the country's finest hour.
antisocial, unearthly, ungodly, unsocial I apologize for phoning you at this ungodly hour.
HOUR + VERB come The hour had come for us to leave.
PREP. between the ~s of The office is closed between the hours of twelve and two.
~ of the hours of darkness
PHRASES your hour of need She helped me in my hour of need.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

hour

half an hour (also a half hour) (=thirty minutes)
I’ll meet you in half an hour.
(a) quarter of an hour (=fifteen minutes)
Mum was gone for about a quarter of an hour.
three quarters of an hour (=forty-five minutes)
The journey takes three quarters of an hour.
miles/kilometres an hour (=used in speeds)
The speed limit is 65 miles an hour.
£10/$7 etc an hour (=used to say how much someone is paid or how much you pay to use something)
The babysitter charges £5 an hour.
an hour’s/six hours' etc work (=work that it took you an hour/six hours etc to do)
I did two hours’ work before breakfast.
an hour’s walk/drive etc
It’s about an hour’s drive away.
an hour/three hours etc later
An hour later she arrived home.
an hour/three hours etc earlier/before
I had just seen him a few hours earlier.
an hour/three hours etc ago
He left an hour ago.
take an hour (=something needs an hour to do)
It took about three hours to paint the whole room.
spend an hour
I spent an hour reading.
last (for) an hour
The meeting lasted almost two hours.
pay/charge by the hour (=pay or charge someone according to the number of hours it takes to do something)
You can pay by the hour to hire a boat.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

hour
noun
BAD: It was a twelve hours trip.
GOOD: It was a twelve-hour trip.

Usage Note:
Using numbers
Day, month, minute, mile, kilo etc are always SINGULAR when used (with a number) immediately before a noun: ‘a six-minute wait’, ‘a ten-second silence’, ‘a five-mile race’.
My travel agent had arranged a 6-day coach tour.
The company provides a three-month training course.
Compare: ‘We waited for thirty minutes: ‘We had a thirty-minute wait.’
When you say 100, 1000 etc , or write these numbers in words, use a hundred, a thousand (WITH a ):
The palace was build a thousand years ago.
Compare: ‘The palace was built 1000 years ago.’
For emphasis or to be exact, it is possible to use one instead of a :
I am one hundred percent against the idea.
After a/one/five/twelve etc , the words hundred, thousand, etc are always SINGULAR and are NOT followed by of :
Five hundred children are born in the city every day.
More than three thousand people were there.
Similarly, of is NOT used after 100, 250, 3000 etc:
If you kill 200 whales a year, they will soon disappear.
Hundreds (of), thousands (of) etc are used only when you give a general idea of how many or how much: ‘There were hundreds of stars in the sky.’ ‘They’ve spent thousands (of pounds) on improvements to the house.’
Use and between hundred and the next number. (In American English, and is often omitted, especially in formal styles.)
BrE The club has about a hundred and thirty members.
AmE The club has about a hundred (and) thirty members.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

hour
ˈauə
See: after hours , all hours , coffee hour , on the hour , zero hour

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲