happy hour
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of happy hour
First recorded in 1960–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I think he’s running out of steam,” a few of my D.C. happy hour comrades confessed Wednesday after the hearings, “Or he’s really sicker than he lets on.”
From Salon • Feb. 13, 2026
They offer a wide selection of fish and seafood, along with a daily happy hour with great deals.
From Salon • Jan. 13, 2026
Once a staple of professional life, happy hour is now a casualty of a corporate cultural reset.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 6, 2026
If you sit at the bar, you can get happy hour all night.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 14, 2025
Some of the pilots were drifting back from the bar, still laughing at the rare faux pas of a colonel’s wife calling her husband at happy hour.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.