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.
Travellers had earlier faced up to two hours' delay reaching the port and up to a further two and half hours to complete processing at the terminal on Saturday morning.
From BBC • May 23, 2026
The National Palace visit was announced with just five hours’ notice.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026
Don’t know your ‘jumping hours’ from your ‘world timers’? Brush up with this cheat sheet.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
Ibrahim now works at an artisanal mine near Gaeed-Deeble, two or three hours' bumpy drive from Hargeisa, with around 150 other workers.
From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026
Three hours’ wage was a high price to pay for answers, but I reached into my overcoat pocket for my billfold.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
