long hour
68
2.4
- noun
:
jornada larga
- After they leave graduate school, many researchers spend long hours in postdoctoral positions.
- work long hours
- spend long hours
- long hours for little pay
When things were different, I lay there for long hours, my face to the wall, blank.
- When things were different, I lay there for long hours, my face to the wall, blank.
- Work hard, work smart, and work long hours.
- A woman was waiting at an airport one night with several long hours before her flight.
- OK, well as a former night owl, I used to work long hours in the lab.
- So a couple of weeks I'm going, I'm working these long hours.
- My sister, she works long hours but after she wants to watch Netflix to relax.
- Even as Americans become wealthier, they work very long hours.
- They want people with talent and abilities and passion who can work long hours for little or no pay.
Examples
-
OK, well as a former night owl, I used to work long hours in the lab.
-
Josh, your mom and I have been working long hours.
-
And you want to work hard, smart and long hours if you want to progress and get ahead.
-
What was it that was driving people to work such long hours and put such incredible time in?
-
Growing up we knew that we had to work hard and work long hours just to get the job and to stay in the job.
-
Since all of the men worked long hours, everyone went to bed early.
Fiction book (1992) -
Children often work very long hours in extreme heat.
-
On average, doctors work longer hours and have less spare time than the rest of the population.
Academic text (1996) -
Sometimes the job consists of brutal days, long hours out in the cold.
-
Many doctors often spend long hours in surgery to save their patients' lives.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A period lasting many days or years
∞
1.0
A period that lasts much longer than usual
20
2.7
Continuing after the planned time
19
2.8
A long time spent doing something
How Long
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an extended period of time' is directly compositional from 'long' (extended) + 'hour' (a unit of time), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the sense. This follows a common adjective+noun pattern and is not idiomatic, making the phrase predictable even if it is less frequent than alternatives like 'long day'.
Etymology
The phrase long hour comes from the simple image of an hour on a clock being stretched so the hour feels long. When people work hard or wait and time seems to move slowly, a long hour came to mean 'an extended period of time spent working or doing something'.