hourglass
Americannoun
-
hourglasses
plural
adjective
noun
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a device consisting of two transparent chambers linked by a narrow channel, containing a quantity of sand that takes a specified time to trickle to one chamber from the other
-
(modifier) well-proportioned with a small waist
an hourglass figure
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hourglass
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.
See Examples For:
In a dark room, a doctor pointed to an hourglass shape glowing on the ultrasound screen: There was her amniotic sac, funneling into her dilated cervix, and there was their tiny daughter’s foot, dipping out.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the screams of our lives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
The hourglass silhouette – the cinched in waist and fuller skirt – felt pointed and intentional.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2025
“The hourglass sand bag complemented the sand-treated dress and was the icing on the cake, not to mention the theatrics of her ‘walk’ on the carpet.”
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024
I nod and look up at the hourglass.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
But throughout the South, the bulbous arachnids with red hourglasses on their bellies are engaged in a lethal competition with the brown widow, a relative from abroad — and they’re losing.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2023
It is true that the bouquets are not wilting and that there aren’t human skulls or hourglasses inserted into the compositions.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 1, 2019
And she picked up on the morbid side of me — I have a collection of hourglasses and vanitas things with skulls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2017
And if packets get dropped, hourglasses spin and screens freeze.
From The Verge ● Nov. 1, 2014
"But thank you. And it's not always this bad. Only after I've used the arcana. My eyes will drift back into place after a few hourglasses."
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
