Tra từ hour - Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

hour [hour hours] BrE [ˈaʊə(r)] NAmE [ˈaʊər] noun
Use an, not a, before hour.
1. countable (abbr.hr, hr.)60 minutes; one of the 24 parts that a day is divided into
• It will take about an hour to get there.
• The interview lasted half an hour.
•It was a three-hour exam.
•I waited for an hour and then I left.
•He'll be back in an hour.
•We're paid by the hour.
•The minimum wage was set at £5.80 an hour.
•Top speed is 120 miles per hour.
•York was within an hour's drive.
•Chicago is two hours away (= it takes two hours to get there).
•We're four hours ahead of New York (= referring to the time difference).
•We hope to be there within the hour (= in less than an hour).
2. countable, usually singular a period of about an hour, used for a particular purpose
• I use the Internet at work, during my lunch hour.
see also ↑happy hour, ↑rush hour
3. hoursplural a fixed period of time during which people work, an office is open, etc
•Opening hours are from 10 to 6 each day.
• Most people in this kind of job tend to work long hours.
•What are your office hours?
•a hospital's visiting hours
•Britain's licensing hours (= when pubs are allowed to open) used to be very restricted.
•This is the only place to get a drink after hours (= after the normal closing time for pubs).
•Clients can now contact us by email out of hours (= when the office is closed).
4. hoursplural a long time
• It took hours getting there.
• I've been waiting for hours.
•‘How long did it last?’ ‘Oh, hours and hours.’
5. singular a particular point in time
• You can't turn him away at this hour of the night.
6. countable, usually singular the time when sth important happens
•This was often thought of as the country's finest hour.
•She thought her last hour had come.
•Don't desert me in my hour of need.
7. the hoursingular the time when it is exactly 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, etc
•There's a bus every hour on the hour.
•The clock struck the hour.
8. hoursplural used when giving the time according to the 24-hour clock, usually in military or other official language
•The first missile was launched at 2300 hours (= at 11 p.m.). This is pronounced ‘23 hundred hours’.
more at at the eleventh hour at ↑eleventh, the evil hour/day/moment at ↑evil, kill an hour, a couple of hours, etc. at ↑kill _v., at an unearthly hour at ↑unearthly, at an ungodly hour at ↑ungodly
Idioms: ↑all hours ▪ ↑keep … hours ▪ ↑small hours
See also: ↑wee hours ▪ ↑wee small hours

Word Origin:
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French ure, via Latin from Greek hōra ‘season, hour’.

Example Bank:
•Bakers have to work unsocial hours.
•Britain's licensing hours
•Buses leave every hour on the hour.
•Doctors often have to work out of hours.
•He keeps regular hours.
•He spends a lot of time in his office after hours.
•He's been gone for over an hour.
•I apologize for calling you at this ungodly hour.
•I should be back within a couple of hours.
•I slept for eight solid hours.
•I spent my lunch hour shopping.
•It takes two hours to get to London.
•She grew more worried with every passing hour.
•She helped me in my hour of need.
•She spends every waking hour at the gym.
•She worked for three hours.
•She works very long hours.
•The clock struck the hour.
•The hour had come for us to leave.
•The office is closed between the hours of twelve and two.
•The party continued well into the early hours.
•The performance lasted three hours.
•The war years were often thought of as the country's finest hour.
•There are still two hours of daylight left.
•They're paid by the hour.
•Top speed is 120 miles per hour.
•We hope to be there within the hour.
•You gain five hours when you fly from New York to London.
•an hour of rest
•rush-hour traffic
•ten minutes past the hour
•the hospital's visiting hours
•the hours of darkness
•the number of contact hours per week
•Don't desert me in my hour of need.
•You can't turn him away at this hour of the night.