hourglass

English
Wooden hourglass

Etymology

hour +‎ glass

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈaʊəɡlɑːs/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

hourglass (plural hourglasses)

  1. A clock made of two glass vessels connected by a narrow passage through which sand flows.
    Synonyms: sandglass, sand timer, watch glass
    Hyponym: egg timer
    Meronym: pinch
    After each game turn, invert the hourglass to reset the time limit for the next player.
    • 1819, John Keats, “Canto I”, in The Fall of Hyperion:
      The sands of thy short life are spent this hour, / And no hand in the universe can turn / Thy hourglass, if these gummed leaves be burnt / Ere thou canst mount up these immortal steps.
  2. (graphical user interface) A cursor, often shaped like an hourglass, indicating that the computer is busy.
    Synonym: egg timer
    Coordinate term: (Apple) beach ball
    • 2002, Maximum PC (Winter 2002, page 16)
      When I right click the desktop display to check Display Properties, it hangs and shows me only the hourglass instead of the display menu.

Derived terms

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Further reading
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