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 is slowly running out, and time is being wasted," he said.
From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2026
“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
He pulled a bottle that looked like an hourglass from inside the machine.
From "The Marvellers" 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
Gunn said that hourglasses became a way to nudge the fans toward the “sense of time running out.”
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.
