hour hand

American  

noun

hour hands plural

1. the hand that indicates the hours on a clock or watch.

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hour hand British  

noun

1. the pointer on a timepiece that indicates the hour Compare minute hand second hand

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• hour hands
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hour hand

First recorded in 1660–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hour hand

Using the tip of a sharpened pencil, I delicately push the minute hand of the watch around in a circle, though the hour hand is unmovable, permanently pointing at 11 o’clock.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2025

They hardly spin at all as they speed through space—their rotational motion is more than 15 times slower than the crawl of a clock's hour hand, minimizing the risk of blurred images.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 16, 2022

At noon, the tip of the hour hand is 30 inches from the ceiling.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 1, 2021

It was every single little thing wrong with modern sports rolled into a two-and-a-half hour hand grenade and the NBA Finals are probably ruined because of it.

From Golf Digest ● Jun. 11, 2019

You wont notise it for a while like you dont notise how the hour hand on a clock moves.

From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes