hourglass means A clock made of two glass vessels connected by a narrow passage through which sand flows.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, hourglass ranks #3,606 of 14,445 for Most Beautiful Words, #7,102 of 14,448 for Funniest Words, #7,180 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words, #7,518 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
hourglass is pronounced /ˈaʊəɡlɑːs/.
Why “hourglass” is a great word
A device for measuring time by the steady, silent passage of sand from one glass bulb to another through a slender neck. From the English words hour (unit of time) and glass (material of the vessel); first recorded in English 1505–15. Unlike a sundial, which is a slave to the sky, or a stopwatch, which obeys a human finger, the hourglass is a sealed, sovereign world indifferent to weather and human intervention alike. It is the faint hiss in a scholar’s study, the captive dune in a ship’s cabin, and the inexorable, granular river that refuses to be bargained with—each grain a small death, each emptied bulb a quiet reminder that time cannot be stopped, only observed as it passes through some narrow place.
Etymology
From hour + glass.
noun
- A clock made of two glass vessels connected by a narrow passage through which sand flows.“After each game turn, invert the hourglass to reset the time limit for the next player.”
- A cursor, often shaped like an hourglass, indicating that the computer is busy.“When I right click the desktop display to check Display Properties, it hangs and shows me only the hourglass instead of the display menu.”
verb
- To display the cursor as an hourglass indicating that the computer is busy or processing.“I have an ADP that I use for reporting that I have used for about a year. I only use it every 3 months, and it has worked up until now. This morning I tried using it, but after trying to open the report, it hourglassed and then showed a "Timeout expired" error. I searched this message and found out how to set the timeout limit, and set it to 300 seconds. Still the same message.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- clepsydra 84% match — Synonym of water clock, especially (historical) ancient Greek and Roman forms. vs hourglass →
- horologe 82% match — Synonym of sundial or clock, a device or mechanism used to tell the hour of the day. vs hourglass →
- ghurry 81% match — A clepsydra or water clock, consisting of a floating cup with a small hole in it, adjusted so that it fills and sinks in a fixed time. vs hourglass →
- metronome 78% match — A device, containing an inverted pendulum, used to mark time by means of regular ticks at adjustable intervals; an electronic equivalent that emits flashes. vs hourglass →
- astrolabe 78% match — An astronomical and navigational instrument for gauging the altitude of the Sun and stars. vs hourglass →
- chronometry 78% match — Synonym of horology: the study of time, particularly the science, art, and technology of time measurement. vs hourglass →
- pendulum 77% match — A body suspended from a fixed support so that it swings freely back and forth under the influence of gravity, commonly used to regulate various devices such as clocks. vs hourglass →
- horologer 77% match — Synonym of horologist, a person skilled in horology, a maker or maintainer of timekeeping devices. vs hourglass →