rush hour

American  

noun

• rush hours
  plural

1. a time of day in which large numbers of people are in transit, as going to or returning from work, and that is characterized by particularly heavy traffic.

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rush hour British  

noun

1. a period at the beginning and end of the working day when large numbers of people are travelling to or from work

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rush-hour
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rush hours
  plural

Etymology

Origin of rush hour

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rush hour

But for the Mets, this has gone as well as trying to navigate the Van Wyck Expressway at rush hour.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

The flow eventually waned but picked up again during the morning rush hour on Wednesday as workers crossed over from the Spanish side.

From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026

Travel disruption continued into Friday rush hour for some, with delays and cancellations reported.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

There, on a crowded train during the evening rush hour, on the night of a Knicks game, I was surrounded by a nuisance I’ve been meeting all too often lately: backpacks.

From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026

I first noticed something was wrong during the rush hour two days ago.

From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

Related Words

• congestion
• traffic jam