little hours

American  

plural noun

Roman Catholic Church.

1. the hours of prime, tierce, sext, and nones, and sometimes also vespers and compline.

---

little hours British  

plural noun

1. RC Church the canonical hours of prime, terce, sext, and nones in the divine office

---

Etymology

Origin of little hours

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

little hours

The night has reached the dreariest of her little hours, that one that seems equally remote from the comfortable shores of the gone day and the coming one.

From Doctor Cupid by Rhoda Broughton

But, idol of my heart, though I am overcome with grief at the idea of leaving you for two little hours, it is a question of four thousand francs.

From The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol by Alec Ball

Keep back the phantoms and the visions sad,   The shades of grey, The fancies that so haunt the little hours   Before the day.

From The Miracle and Other Poems by Virna Sheard

Keep back the phantoms and the visions sad,—     The shades of grey,— The fancies that so haunt the little hours     Before the day.

From The Ballad of the Quest by Virna Sheard

I went along swimmingly into the little hours, but by two o'clock there was a great sameness about it, and I grew desperately sleepy.

From Gala-days by Gail Hamilton