{
    "term": "hour",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "a1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "60 minutes; one of the 24 parts that a day is divided into",
            "sensetop": "for an hourin an hourby the hourper/an hourwithin the hour",
            "cefr": "a1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I **spent an hour **on the phone."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It will **take** about **an hour** to get there."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It usually takes me two hours to walk there."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The interview **lasted half an hour**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It was a three-hour exam."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Most cats sleep 13–16 **hours a day**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Architects can expect to spend 40 hours a week in meetings."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I waited for a couple of hours and then I left.",
                    "contextForm": "for an hour"
                },
                {
                    "text": "He'll be back in an hour.",
                    "contextForm": "in an hour"
                },
                {
                    "text": "In less than **twenty-four hours** it would be Christmas."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We're paid by the hour.",
                    "contextForm": "by the hour"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Top speed is 120 miles per hour.",
                    "contextForm": "per/an hour"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The rate of pay is £10.50 an hour."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We hope to be there within the hour *(= in less than an hour)*.",
                    "contextForm": "within the hour"
                },
                {
                    "text": "York was within an hour's drive."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He crossed the line in a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Chicago is two hours away *(= it takes two hours to get there)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We're four hours ahead of New York *(= referring to the time difference)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I sat there, **hour after hour**, staring at a blank computer screen."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He's been gone for over an hour."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I should be back within a couple of hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I sat there for two hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I slept for eight solid hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It takes two hours to get to London."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She grew more worried with every passing hour."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She worked for three hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The performance lasted three hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "There are still two hours of daylight left."
                },
                {
                    "text": "You gain five hours when you fly from New York to London."
                },
                {
                    "text": "an hour of rest"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Time"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["full", "solid", "contact"],
                "verb + hour": ["take", "spend", "waste"],
                "hour + verb": ["go by", "pass"],
                "preposition": ["by the hour", "for an hour", "in an hour"],
                "phrases": ["half an hour", "hour after hour", "in an hour’s time"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "a period of about an hour, used for a particular purpose",
            "cefr": "a2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I spent my **lunch hour** shopping."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Time"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["lunch", "peak", "rush"],
                "verb + hour": ["spend"],
                "preposition": ["hour of"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "a fixed period of time during which people work, an office is open, etc.",
            "sensetop": "during office, business, etc. hours after hoursout of hours",
            "cefr": "a2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "**Opening hours** are from 10 to 6 each day."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Most people in this kind of job tend to work **long hours**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The library is open during normal **working hours**.",
                    "contextForm": "during office, business, etc. hours"
                },
                {
                    "text": "What are your **office hours**?"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a hospital’s **visiting hours**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Britain's **licensing hours** *(= when pubs are allowed to open)* used to be very restricted."
                },
                {
                    "text": "This is the only place to get a drink after hours *(= after the normal closing time for pubs)*.",
                    "contextForm": "after hours"
                },
                {
                    "text": "You can contact me on this number out of hours *(= when the office is closed)*.",
                    "contextForm": "out of hours"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Doctors often have to work out of hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He keeps regular hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He spends a lot of time in his office after hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Bakers have to work unsocial hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She works very long hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "the number of contact hours (= working hours spent with students or clients, not working alone) per week"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The office is closed between the hours of twelve and two."
                },
                {
                    "text": "the hours of darkness"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Time"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["office", "opening", "visiting"],
                "verb + hours": ["work", "keep"],
                "preposition": ["after hour", "out of hour"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "a long time",
            "sensetop": "for hours",
            "cefr": "a2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "It **took hours** getting there."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It took us hours to find out what was wrong."
                },
                {
                    "text": "‘How long did it last?’ ‘Oh, **hours and hours**.’"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Where have you been? I've been **waiting hours**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I've been **waiting for hours**.",
                    "contextForm": "for hours"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Time"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "a particular point in time",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "You can't turn him away at this hour of the night."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The hour had come for us to leave."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 6,
            "definition": "the time when something important happens",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "This was often thought of as the country's **finest hour**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She thought her **last hour** had come."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Don't desert me in my **hour of need**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She helped me in my hour of need."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["darkest", "finest", "antisocial"],
                "hour + verb": ["come"],
                "preposition": ["between the hours of", "hour of"],
                "phrases": ["your hour of need"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 7,
            "definition": "the time when it is exactly 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock, etc.",
            "sensetop": "on the hour",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The clock **struck the hour**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "ten minutes past the hour"
                },
                {
                    "text": "There's a bus every hour on the hour",
                    "contextForm": "on the hour"
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "verb + the hour": ["chime", "strike"],
                "preposition": ["on the hour", "past the hour", "to the hour"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 8,
            "definition": "used when giving the time according to the 24-hour clock, usually in military or other official language",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The first missile was launched at 2300 hours *(= at 11 p.m.)*."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "any time, especially a time that is not usual or suitable",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "He's started staying out **till all hours** *(= until very late at night)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She thinks she can call me **at all hours of the day and night**."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "at the last possible moment; just in time",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "very early, especially when this is annoying",
            "labels": "(informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The job involved getting up at some unearthly hour to catch the first train."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "very early or very late and therefore annoying",
            "labels": "(informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I apologize for calling you at this ungodly hour."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "the time when you have to do something difficult or unpleasant",
            "labels": "(often humorous)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I’d better go and see the dentist—I can’t put off the evil hour any longer."
                },
                {
                    "text": "If you keep on borrowing, you are only postponing the evil day when you have to pay it all back."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "if you keep regular, strange, etc. hours, the times at which you do things (especially getting up or going to bed) are regular, strange, etc.",
            "examples": [],
            "topics": ["Time"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to spend time doing something that is not important while you are waiting for something else to happen",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "We killed time playing cards."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "the period of time very early in the morning, soon after midnight",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "We worked well into the small hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The fighting began in the early hours of Saturday morning."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The party continued well into the early hours."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Time"]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈaʊə(r)/",
                "audio": "ho/hour/hour__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈaʊər/",
                "audio": "ho/hour/hour__us_2.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French ure, via Latin from Greek hōra ‘season, hour’."
}