hourglass
Americannoun
-
hourglasses
plural
adjective
noun
-
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
Both have hourglass markings, but the black widow’s is bright red, while the brown widow’s is orange.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2024
"I'll only be a few minutes. Maybe a full 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
Sand clocks, known as hourglasses, are another key motif.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2022
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 if packets get dropped, hourglasses spin and screens freeze.
From The Verge ● Nov. 1, 2014
It's impossible to tell how many hourglasses have passed.
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.
