hourglass

[ ouuhr-glas, -glahs, ou-er- ]

noun

1. an instrument for measuring time, consisting of two bulbs of glass joined by a narrow passage through which a quantity of sand or mercury runs in just an hour.

adjective

1. having a notably slim or narrow waist, midsection, or joining segment:

   She has an hourglass figure.

hourglass

/ ˈaʊəˌɡlɑːs /

noun

1. a device consisting of two transparent chambers linked by a narrow channel, containing a quantity of sand that takes a specified time to trickle to one chamber from the other
2. modifier well-proportioned with a small waist

   an hourglass figure

Word History and Origins

Origin of hourglass¹

First recorded in 1505–15; hour + glass

Example Sentences

So, at the top of that hourglass, you have senior leadership that gets this.

From MIT Technology Review

I’m not on the way to the graveyard or anything, but there’s a lot more sand in the bottom of my hourglass than there is on the top.

From FiveThirtyEight

She speaks in a croaking whisper, a voice that seems to have been rubbed raw by centuries’ worth of sand pouring through an hourglass.

From Time

Here is how the sands ran through the players’ hourglasses in that classic game — high-dosage, buzzer-beater drama, time-released over hours.

From FiveThirtyEight

With tip rocker to ease initiation and a hourglass shape that wants to pull you through each turn, the 86 flows seamlessly on boilerplate.

From Outside Online

But there are two aspects that raise Hourglass above mere Ulysses imitation.

From The Daily Beast

One of these collaborations includes a lilac hourglass-shaped Tadashi gown in which Spencer collected her very first Golden Globe.

From The Daily Beast

There were bold minidresses with molded bodices that exaggerated an hourglass figure.

From The Daily Beast

Sometimes his leather jackets were sporty and rakish, at others they were sculpted into prim, hourglass shapes.

From The Daily Beast

The catillus (E) itself was shaped something like an hourglass, or two funnels joined at the neck.

From Project Gutenberg

At the sound the bearded old man raises his sceptre, opens his mouth, and turns an hourglass.

From Project Gutenberg

The sands did not then run so swiftly through the hourglass; if the voyage to England was long, why, so was life!

From Project Gutenberg

One and all worshiped somewhat languidly, with frequent glances at the hourglass upon the pulpit.

From Project Gutenberg

Sometimes it will be nearly globular, again long and thin, or it may be constricted like an hourglass.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• timer