a period regularly or customarily appointed for work, business, etc
one's times of rising and going to bed (esp in the phrases keep regular, irregular, or late hours )
an indefinite period of time
Also called (in the Roman Catholic Church): canonical hours.
the seven times of the day laid down for the recitation of the prayers of the divine office
the prayers recited at these times
the hours just after midnight
until very late
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By measuring the generated thrust and operating the thrusters continuously for periods of up to 100 hours, the team was able to assess the fuel's performance and efficiency.
From Science Daily • Jun. 10, 2026
In the end, the helicopter’s two crew members were rescued by a sea drone, after hours in the water, a first-of-its-kind mission.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
Partis, who had been tracking the bird for almost 12 hours, said it was his first time seeing a western reef heron.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
The company hired outside experts to spend more than 1,000 hours trying to find ways to bypass these restrictions -- a process known as red-teaming.
From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026
I feel restless but more at peace than I felt twenty-four hours ago.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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.
