Hour n.
 1. The twenty-fourth part of a day; sixty minutes.
 2. The time of the day, as expressed in hours and minutes, and indicated by a timepiece; as, what is the hour? At what hour shall we meet?
 3. Fixed or appointed time; conjuncture; a particular time or occasion; as, the hour of greatest peril; the man for the hour.
    Woman, . . . mine hour is not yet come.   --John ii. 4.
    This is your hour, and the power of darkness.   --Luke xxii. 53.
 4. pl. R. C. Ch. Certain prayers to be repeated at stated times of the day, as matins and vespers.
 5. A measure of distance traveled.
    Vilvoorden, three hours from Brussels.   --J. P. Peters.
 After hours, after the time appointed for one's regular labor.
 Canonical hours. See under Canonical.
 Hour angle Astron., the angle between the hour circle passing through a given body, and the meridian of a place.
 Hour circle. Astron. (a) Any circle of the sphere passing through the two poles of the equator; esp., one of the circles drawn on an artificial globe through the poles, and dividing the equator into spaces of 15°, or one hour, each. (b) A circle upon an equatorial telescope lying parallel to the plane of the earth's equator, and graduated in hours and subdivisions of hours of right ascension. (c) A small brass circle attached to the north pole of an artificial globe, and divided into twenty-four parts or hours. It is used to mark differences of time in working problems on the globe.
 Hour hand, the hand or index which shows the hour on a timepiece.
 Hour line. (a) Astron. A line indicating the hour. (b) Dialing A line on which the shadow falls at a given hour; the intersection of an hour circle which the face of the dial.
 Hour plate, the plate of a timepiece on which the hours are marked; the dial. --Locke.
 Sidereal hour, the twenty-fourth part of a sidereal day.
 Solar hour, the twenty-fourth part of a solar day.
 The small hours, the early hours of the morning, as one o'clock, two o'clock, etc.
 To keep good hours, to be regular in going to bed early.

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 hour hand
      n : the shorter hand of a clock that points to the hours [syn: {little
          hand]