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Glite Dictionary
⏳ A long time 💼 Work schedule
hours

hours

42 1.0
A long time that feels much longer than it is
  • noun
  • /aʊərz/
  • Informal
translation icon : hora
  • I've been doing this for hours, hours and hours.
  • 24 hours
  • two hours
  • hours later

Yeah, well, we could spend hours on that topic, but.

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Examples

  • He spends hours and hours a day studying.

    Lex Fridman

  • And you would just lose yourself for hours doing that stuff.

    Rich Roll

  • It's just hours of labour, hours of work, OK.

  • This would take hours and hours and hours to fill a system.

    Linus Tech Tips

  • And you know, you could spend hours just enjoying them.

  • I just love that he reads for hours every single day.

    Mel Robbins

  • This is our last three hours of the entire trek.

  • You know, these groups spent hundreds of hours on recruiting just one kid.

  • I've been studying the past couple hours and so has Maddie.

  • He spends hours studying for his exams every evening.

Idioms

all the hours God sends
  • UK
9.9

Do something, especially work, for very long periods without rest

Compounds

twenty-four hours
64 1.0

A period equal to one full day and night

after hours
31 3.2

At a time after normal business hours when most places are closed

after-hours
20 4.4

Happening or open after the usual closing time

small hours
4 4.9

A very early time in the morning soon after midnight

How Long

month
∞ 1.0
week
∞ 1.0
days
1.0
hours
  • Informal
42 1.0

Surface Forms

hour singular
hours plural

Morphology

hours = hour (transparent) = hour + s

Simple plural formation from 'hour'; an average learner who knows 'hour' can infer 'hours' as multiple or a long duration.

Etymology

The word hours comes from the old Latin word hora, which meant 'hour' or 'time'. A helpful image is an hourglass that measures time, and that is why we use hours to talk about amounts of time or long, unclear periods like 'it felt like hours'.