hour

hours (plural)
hower (alternative obsolete)
houre (alternative obsolete)
howre (alternative obsolete)

Bislama: aua

Tok Pisin: aua

→ Hausa: awa

From Middle English houre, hour, oure, from Anglo-Norman houre, from Old French houre, (h)ore, from Latin hōra (“hour”), from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “any time or period, whether of the year, month, or day”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”). Akin to Old English ġēar (“year”). Doublet of hora and year.
Partly displaced native Old English tīd (“time, hour”), whence Modern English tide.

der

the darkest hour is always just before the dawn

the darkest hour is just before the dawn

I spent an hour at lunch.

During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]

1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond:

It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes. The truth is that Newton was very much a product of his time.

2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892:

(time) A unit of time of one twenty-fourth of a day (sixty minutes).

點 /点

unit to denote the hour, such as military usage in English

stound

period of sixty minutes, a season or moment


quarter

en-noun

quarter (countable and uncountable, plural quarters)

From Middle English quarter, from Anglo-Norman quarter, from Latin quartarius, from quartus. Compare Spanish cuarto (“room, quarters; quarter”). Doublet of quartier.

cog

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-quarter.wav

An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 163:

(time) A fourth part of an hour; a period of fifteen minutes, especially with reference to the quarter before or after the hour.


to

From Middle English to, from Old English tō, from Proto-Germanic *tō ~ *ta, from Proto-Indo-European *de ~ *do (“to”). Cognate with Scots tae, to (“to”), North Frisian to, tö, tu (“to”), Saterland Frisian tou (“to”), Low German to (“to”), Dutch toe, te (“to”), German zu (“to”), West Frisian ta (“to”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian ndaj (“towards”), Irish do (“to, for”), Breton da (“to, for”), Welsh i (“to, for”), Russian до (do, “to”). Doublet of too.

uses the dative case or նկատմամբ (nkatmamb)

(first number in genitive case) suhde (second number in illative case) (e.g. yhden suhde yhteen ~ one to one)

(ordinal number of the exponent in illative case)

ב־

written together with the following word

(ordinal number of the exponent in superessive case)

-ஆக

Rarely used, in contrast with "time following" words such as quarter past and half past.

What's the time? – It's quarter to four in the afternoon (or 3:45 pm).

It’s quarter to (3:45, or 4:45, or whatever time ending in 45 would make the most sense)

(time) Preceding (the stated hour).
(informal) With implied hour.

Preceding (the stated hour).
With implied hour.


then

From Middle English then(ne), than(ne), from Old English þonne, þanne, þænne (“then, at that time”), from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan (“at that (time), then”), from earlier *þam, from Proto-Indo-European *tóm, accusative masculine of *só (“demonstrative pronoun, that”).
Cognate with Dutch dan (“then”), German dann (“then”), Swedish då (“then”), Icelandic þá (“then”). Doublet of than.

inh

He was happy then.

And the Canaanite was then in the land.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 12:6:

In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts,[…], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

The country was shaken by the then-recent assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, which happened against the background of profound racial tensions, stark economic inequality and growing opposition to the Vietnam War.

2022 January 21, Jacopo Prisco, “Striking photographs show ‘America in Crisis’”, in CNN:

He fixed it, then left.

Turn left, then right, then right again, then keep going until you reach the service station.

First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:24:

Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:


forever

/fəˈɹɛvə(ɹ)/

Univerbation of for ever, from Middle English for ever, for evere. By surface analysis, for + ever. First attested in the late 14c., and first attested in the late 17c. as one word. Noun first attested in 1858.

for ever (alternative British)
fore'er (alternative)
for e'er (alternative)
Forever (alternative noun poetic)

I shall love you forever.

Secondly, When a body is once in motion it will continue to move forever, unless something stops it. When a ball is struck on the surface of the earth, the friction of the earth and the resistance of the air soon stop its motion.

1839, Denison Olmsted, A Compendium of Astronomy, page 95:

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever.

1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four:

(duration) For all time, for all eternity; for a lifetime; for an infinite amount of time.

ለዘለዓለም

for all time, for all eternity; for an infinite amount of time

για πάντα (gia pánta, literally “for always”)

We had to wait forever to get inside.

That was forever ago.

She and Serena had been friends forever. Or nearly forever: forty-two years, beginning with Miss Kimmel's first grade.

1988, Anne Tyler, chapter 1, in Breathing Lessons:

Anything in the world of transport takes forever to do, and costs far too much.

2024 February 7, Lee Waters tells Conrad Landin, “A mission to improve transport for Wales”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 35:

(duration, colloquial, hyperbolic) For a very long time, a seeming eternity.

eeuwig

(colloquially) for an excessively long time


once

From Middle English ones, from Old English ānes, a remodelling (after ān (“one”)) of ǣnes, itself an extension of ǣne (“once”) with the genitive suffix -es. Compare Old Saxon ēnes (“once”), Old High German eines, einēst (“once”), modern German einst (“once”). More at one (including regarding the development of the pronunciation) and -s.

He was once the most handsome man around.

I once had a motorbicycle.

Once I didn't drive a big car, but now I own an all-terrain 4WD.

Wang notes that flowers have rooted and grow in the area once covered with ice.

Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.

1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:

Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.

2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:

(temporal location) Formerly; during some period in the past.


afterwards

From Middle English afterwardes, from Old English æfteweard (“behind”) + -s (“(adverbial genitive)”). By surface analysis, after + -wards.

Another Karadeniz cross led to Cudicini's first save of the night, with the Spurs keeper making up for a weak punch by brilliantly pushing away Christian Noboa's snap-shot.
Two more top-class stops followed quickly afterwards, first from Natcho's rasping shot which was heading into the top corner, and then to deny Ryazantsev at his near post.

2011 November 3, Chris Bevan, “Rubin Kazan 1 - 0 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport:

(temporal location) At a later or succeeding time; after that;


past

From Middle English passed, past participle of passen (“to pass, to go by”), whence Modern English pass.

What's the time? - It's now quarter past twelve midday (or 12.15pm) -O,K., we'll stop at half (past) twelve

But they were stunned when Glen Johnson's error let in Peter Odemwingie to fire past Pepe Reina on 75 minutes.

2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:

(time) Any number of minutes after the last hour


until one is blue in the face

You can explain it until you're blue in the face, but he will never understand.

Poor Johnny one-note yelled willy nilly / Until he was blue in the face

1937, Rodgers and Hart, “Johnny One Note”:

(duration, idiomatic) For a hopelessly long time; used especially in respect to discussing, explaining, insisting, etc.


briefly

en-adv

briefly (comparative more briefly, superlative most briefly)

more briefly (comparative)
most briefly (superlative)

From Middle English breefly, breffly, brevely, brevelike, breveliche, equivalent to brief + -ly.

He only worked here briefly.

Instead, ddakji was played for dramatic effect earlier in the season — pitting two men who had forged a sweet bond against each other, making one of them briefly believe he’d been eliminated by his friend.

2023 December 7, Maya Salam, “‘Squid Game: The Challenge’: Hits, Misses and the Bizarre Ending”, in The New York Times:


around the clock

They worked around the clock to finish the project on time.

(duration, idiomatic) All the time, or seemingly all the time; constantly.


momentarily

The system will restart momentarily.

He told me, further, that the second coming was at hand--was looked for momentarily in Jerusalem.

1880, Lew Wallace, chapter 3, in Ben-Hur, a Tale of the Christ:

(US, proscribed, duration) In a moment or very soon; any minute now, any time now.


EST

Eastern Standard Time
Eastern Standard Time#English

(time) Initialism of Eastern Standard Time.


used to

From used, past of use (“(archaic sense) to be in the habit of”) + to (“infinitive marker”).

You used never to like soap operas, did you?  I used to like that band long ago, and I was surprised I still do.  I used to know a guy from the UK who pronounced "mother" with the "r".  It used to be me who ran the company.  There used to be open fields here. Now it's a shopping mall.

I used always to go to the seaside in Agust as a child.

They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2:

1980, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson (lyrics), Agnetha Fältskog (lead vocalist), ABBA, The Winner Takes It All
But tell me does she kiss like I used to kiss you? / Does it feel the same, when she calls your name?

When I was a kid I used to think it was all the same clouds that kept coming by.

1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 94:

2002, David I. Grossvogel, Didn't You Used to Be Depardieu?:

2003, G. E. Kruckeberg, Things My Daddy Used to Say:

(temporal location) Formerly and habitually or repeatedly, but possibly no longer, did.

use the past tense with an indication of time in the past such as 曾經 /曾经 (céngjīng)

use the past tense with an indication of time in the past such as voorheen or vroeger

in formal style also pflegte zu + infinitive

past tense of היה + present participle or present tense with an optional indication of a past time such as פעם (pá'am)

use the imperfect tense of the verb that follows or use the imperfect of soleō + the infinitive of the verb that follows

use the past iterative tense of the verb that follows

زمانی (zamâni) (or synonyms) + imperfect

قدیما (qadimâ) (or synonyms) + imperfect

use the imperfect tense of the verb that follows or imperfect of costumar followed by infinitive

obișnui (in the imperfect) + să + (verb in the subjunctive)

ра́ньше (ránʹše) or use приходи́лось (prixodílosʹ) + infinitive

use the imperfect tense of the verb (for states or actions) that follows or imperfect tense of soler + infinitive (only for actions)

use the imperfect tense of the verb that follows or the imperfect of arfer followed by the verbal noun

in the colloquial language use the imperfect or conditional of bod plus yn


solar time

en-noun

solar time (countable and uncountable, plural solar times)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-solar time.wav

(astronomy, time) A calculation of the passage of time based on the apparent position of the Sun in the sky.


all along

He thought he had me fooled, but I knew the truth all along.

(duration, idiomatic) For the entire time; always.


quarter of an hour

quarter of an hour (plural quarters of an hour)

Will you shut up! You've been talking for the last quarter of an hour.

After half or three quarters of an hour’s chat.


from dusk to dawn

Roos and wallabies often leap onto roads, particularly from dusk to dawn; keep your speed under 70km/h at these times.

2005, Paul Smitz, Carolyn Bain, Sandra Bao, Susannah Farfor, Australia, Lonely Planet, page 745:

(temporal location) At night, nighttime.


back in the day

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-back in the day.wav

I wanted to do a song that epitomizes the feeling and vibe from back in the day while still being current.

1995 April 8, Havelock Nelson, quoting Jemini, “Mercury Debut Rapper Jemini Proudly Displays All His ‘Scars’”, in Billboard, volume 107, number 14, Nielsen Business Media, →ISSN, page 18:

Sean May played like they did back in the day, kind of like 29 long years ago, when his father led Indiana to a national championship in 1976.

2005 April 5, Joe Lapointe, “COLLEGE BASKETBALL; North Carolina's Leader Does His Father Proud”, in The New York Times, retrieved 2010-06-27:

Ah, back in the day. After stumbling out of the service entrance, and wandering to the beach to swim off our buzz, we would barefoot it down the beach to the Outrigger, where Mr. Don would sometimes do a cameo at the microphone.

2009, Everett Peacock, The Parrot Talks in Chocolate, Everett Peacock, →ISBN, page 31:

(temporal location, idiomatic, informal) In the distant past; especially, at a time fondly remembered (the good old days).

ہمارے زمانے میں (hamārē zamānē ma͠i, literally “in our time”)


till death do us part

Originates from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. The original wording is "till death us depart" (using the obsolete “to separate, part” sense of depart).

nb...

and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Churche: After the Use of the Churche of England.

Colophon: Imprinted at London in Fleetstrete, at the signe of the Sunne ouer against the conduyte, by Edvvarde VVhitchurche

(duration, idiomatic) Until death separates us; a common phrase stated between the bride and the groom at a Christian wedding, indicating a commitment to their union.

حَتَّى الْمَوْت عَلَيْنَا الْجُزْء

phrase said as part of wedding vows indicating commitment

죽음이 두 사람을 갈라 놓을 때까지

jugeumi du sarameul galla no'eul ttaekkaji


summarily

en-adv

summarily (comparative more summarily, superlative most summarily)

more summarily (comparative)
most summarily (superlative)

He covered the topic summarily in an answer to a question.

After this mention of the closing persecution, he summarily indicates all that the devil, and the city of which he is the prince, shall suffer in the last judgment.

1950, Marcus, transl. Dods, chapter 14, in The City of God, book XX, translation of original by Augustine of Hippo:

They didn't get shot to death in hold-ups, strangled to death in rapes, stabbed to death in saloons, bludgeoned to death with axes by parents or children or die summarily by some other act of God.

1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168:

(duration) Over a short period of time, briefly.


all the time

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LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-all the time.wav

The public does not wish to be outraged in this way all the time.

1889 September 11, Mark Twain, “Last Words of Great Men”, in Buffalo Express:

Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

I couldn't live without your love
Now, I know you′re really mine
I gotta have you all the time

1966, Tony Hatch, Jackie Trent, Petula Clark (vocalist), I Couldn't Live Without Your Love, I Couldn't Live Without Your Love (album)

The study found that there had been as many patent applications for artificial intelligence since 2013 as there were in all the time since the term AI was first used in the 1950s.

2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 2019-02-07:

(set phrase, duration) Always; constantly; for the complete duration.


breakup

breakups (plural)
break up (alternative)
break-up (alternative)

(Alaska and northern Canada, seasons, time) The time of year during which winter ice covering bodies of water disintegrates; more generally, spring.


ever since

I started smoking last year and have been coughing ever since.

I haven't met her ever since.

(duration) Continuously since a specified time or event.

sit ewig

continuously since a specified time or event


midnightmare

"Minnie — " I tried again, but what issued from my throat was that sound we all make, midnightmare, somewhere between a growl and a silent scream.

1991, Carol Muske-Dukes, Dear Digby, page 61:

Will tried to convince himself that he had the life he deserved. That it was restful not having to put up a front all the time. Knowing he wasn't disturbing Dinah's sleep when he woke midnightmare, shouting.

2007, Janice Kay Johnson, Christmas Presents and Past, page 230:


mid-nightmare

His eyes were wide and scared, as if he'd woken mid-nightmare.

2006, Marion Lennox, Princess of Convenience, page 82:


quarter-hour

These bells chime on the quarter-hour.

(time) quarter of an hour; period of time equal to 15 minutes; a quarter.


freeze-up

(seasons, time) The start of the time when surface waters are frozen over.


red-hot minute

“Just a red-hot minute!” Tim darted between her and the raging teenager.

2011, Hannah Alexander, Jill Elizabeth Nelson, Season of Danger: Silent Night, Deadly Night\Mistletoe Mayhem, →ISBN:

Somewhere behind the navy sky the Cairns ships hung in gravity-defying non-orbit, in any emergency a screaming red-hot minute away.

2012, Ken MacLeod, Engine City: Engines of Light, →ISBN:

I didn't buy their version of things for a red-hot minute.

2013, Ellen Kanner, Feeding the Hungry Ghost: Life, Faith, and what to Eat for Dinner, →ISBN:

(time) Synonym of hot minute (“an extremely short period of time”); a moment.


closed loop

closed time loop
closed time loop#English

(time travel) Clipping of closed time loop.


non-Archimedean time

en-noun

non-Archimedean time (countable and uncountable, plural non-Archimedean times)

(time) A theory of time that posits that there exist instants infinitely in the future or infinitely in the past.


local mean sidereal time

local mean sidereal time (countable and uncountable, plural local mean sidereal times)

(astronomy, time) A time scale indicating the immediate position of an observer relative to the stars, calculated by adding the longitude of the observer, measured east of Greenwich, to Greenwich sidereal time (GMST).


Terrestrial Time

(astronomy, time) A modern astronomical time standard defined by the International Astronomical Union, primarily for time-measurements of astronomical observations made from the surface of the Earth.


magnetic local time

magnetic local time (countable and uncountable, plural magnetic local times)

(astronomy, time) A parameter measuring the time at a location on the surface of the Earth based on the Earth's magnetic field, often used to describe a position in near-earth space.


local sidereal time

local sidereal time (countable and uncountable, plural local sidereal times)

(astronomy, time) A sidereal time of a specific location on the Earth, depending on the longitude of the point.


primary time standard

primary time standard (countable and uncountable, plural primary time standards)

(time, telecommunications) A time standard that does not require calibration against another time standard.


mean sidereal time

mean sidereal time (countable and uncountable, plural mean sidereal times)

(astronomy, time) The hour angle between the meridian of Greenwich and the mean equinox of a specific date at Universal Time.


ordinal date

(time) A calendar day consisting of a year and an ordinal number, ranging from 1 to 366, representing the multiples of a day.


wikitime

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(computing, Internet, time) A time standard or timestamp used in Wikipedia and its affiliates, set to Greenwich Mean Time, and encoded as 24-hour time-day-month-year.


Israel Daylight Time

(time) The practice in Israel by which clocks are advanced by one hour, beginning on the Friday before the last Sunday of March, and ending on the last Sunday of October.


Madras Time

(time, historical) A time zone established in 1802 in British India.


Bombay Time

(time, historical) One of the two official time zones established in British India in 1884.


French Revolutionary Time

(time, historical) A decimal time system used in France during the French Revolution from 1794 to 1800.


Central European Midsummer Time

(time, historical) A time zone, UTC+3, that was used as a double summer time in several European countries during the 1940s.