canonical hour

American  

noun

1. Ecclesiastical. any of certain periods of the day set apart for prayer and devotion: these are matins and lauds, prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline.

---

canonical hour British  

noun

1. RC Church

   1. one of the seven prayer times appointed for each day by canon law

   2. the services prescribed for these times, namely matins, prime, terce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline

2. Church of England any time between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. at which marriages may lawfully be celebrated

---

Etymology

Origin of canonical hour

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

canonical hour

You may think it impossible for me to reach London by the canonical hour.

From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 6 by Samuel Richardson

Nay, as an Irishman would say, you need not even read this note till the canonical hour is past.

From The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford — Volume 4 by Horace Walpole

To sing the requiems Is thine by special right, To each canonical hour, In which the bells are rung.

From The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, December 1864 by Various

The Abbey court sat in the chapter-house at the canonical hour of tierce, which was nine in the forenoon.

From Sir Nigel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

From one canonical hour to the next they were there in converse, and making a covenant.

From The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Translations Of Christian Literature. Series V. Lives Of The Celtic Saints by R.A. Stewart MacAlister

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---