Hour

Hour - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

First found in Dan. 3:6; 4:19, 33;5:5. It is the rendering of the Chaldee shaah, meaning a "moment," a "look." It is used in the New Testament frequently to denote some determinate season (Matt. 8:13; Luke 12:39).

With the ancient Hebrews the divisions of the day were "morning, evening, and noon-day" (Ps. 55:17, etc.). The Greeks, following the Babylonians, divided the day into twelve hours. The Jews, during the Captivity, learned also from the Babylonians this method of dividing time. When Judea became subject to the Romans, the Jews adopted the Roman mode of reckoning time. The night was divided into four watches (Luke 12:38; Matt. 14:25; 13:25). Frequent allusion is also made to hours (Matt. 25:13; 26:40, etc.). (See [287]DAY.)

An hour was the twelfth part of the day, reckoning from sunrise to sunset, and consequently it perpetually varied in length.

Hour - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

HOUR, n. our. [L. hora; also L. tempestivus, from tempus. See Time. But hour, hora, afterward came to signify a certain portion or division of the day. This has been different in different nations.]

1. A space of time equal to one twenty fourth part of the natural day, or duration of the diurnal revolution of the earth. An hour answers to fifteen degrees of the equator. It consists of 60 minutes, each minute of 60 seconds, _c.

2. Time; a particular time; as the hour of death.

Jesus saith, woman,my hour is not yet come. John 2.

3. The time marked or indicated by a chronometer, clock or watch; the particular time of the day. What is the hour? At what hour shall we meet? I will be with you at an early hour.

Good hour, signifies early or seasonably.

You have arrived at a good hour.

To keep good hours, to be at home in good season; not to be abroad late, or at the usual hours of retiring to rest.

Hours, in the plural, certain prayers in the Romish church, to be repeated at stated times of the day, as matins and vespers.