little hours

American  

plural noun

Roman Catholic Church.

1. the hours of prime, tierce, sext, and nones, and sometimes also vespers and compline.

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little hours British  

plural noun

1. RC Church the canonical hours of prime, terce, sext, and nones in the divine office

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Etymology

Origin of little hours

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Just twenty-four little hours, and she would be mine—the only woman I had ever really coveted, the only one who had ever found the good in me.

From The Rustlers of Pecos County by Grey, Zane

Had Judith Rodney been his desert comrade all these cheerful years for him to get his first belated insight into the real Judith only a few little hours back?

From Judith of the Plains by Manning, Marie

As far as we can see, St. Gregory arranged the little hours for Sunday only, and their arrangement for week days was left to the care of the bishops and metropolitans, or even of abbots.

From The Divine Office by Quigley, Edward J.

Keep back the phantoms and the visions sad,   The shades of grey, The fancies that so haunt the little hours   Before the day.

From The Miracle and Other Poems by Sheard, Virna

Well," he protested, "and for me to stay with you a week takes months of these miserable little hours we have.

From Plashers Mead A Novel by MacKenzie, Compton