hourglass
[ ouuh r-glas, -glahs, ou-er- ]
/ ˈaʊərˌglæs, -ˌglɑs, ˈaʊ ər- /
noun
adjective
having a notably slim or narrow waist, midsection, or joining segment: She has an hourglass figure.
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RELATED WORDS
alarm, timer, timepiece, clock, metronome, dial, watch, chronometer, calendar, chronograph, repeater, pendulum, horologe, chronoscope, gnomon, sundial, stopwatch, clepsydra, tattler, timekeeper
Nearby words
- houppelande,
- hour,
- hour angle,
- hour circle,
- hour hand,
- hourglass contraction,
- hourglass murmur,
- hourglass stomach,
- houri,
- hourlong
Origin of hourglass
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for hourglass
hourglass
/ (ˈaʊəˌɡlɑːs) /
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 waistan hourglass figure
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
hourglass
1510s, from hour + glass. Used 19c. in a variety of technical and scientific senses to describe the shape; reference to women's bodies is attested by 1897.
Men condemn corsets in the abstract, and are sometimes brave enough to insist that the women of their households shall be emancipated from them; and yet their eyes have been so generally educated to the approval of the small waist, and the hourglass figure, that they often hinder women who seek a hygienic style of dress. [Mary Ashton Rice Livermore, "The Story of My Life," 1898]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper