hourglass
pronunciation
How to pronounce hourglass in British English:
UK [ˈaʊəglɑ:s]
How to pronounce hourglass in American English:
US [ˈaʊərglæs]
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- Noun:
- a sandglass that runs for sixty minutes
Word Origin
- hourglass (n.)
- 1510s, from hour + glass. Used 19c. in a variety of technical and scientific senses to describe the shape; reference to women's bodies is attested by 1897. Men condemn corsets in the abstract, and are sometimes brave enough to insist that the women of their households shall be emancipated from them; and yet their eyes have been so generally educated to the approval of the small waist, and the hourglass figure, that they often hinder women who seek a hygienic style of dress. [Mary Ashton Rice Livermore, "The Story of My Life," 1898]
Example
- 1. Women with hourglass figures tend to be more fertile .
- 2. An hourglass is female - over time the weight shifts to the bottom .
- 3. That is , don 't start by calling something a swordfish and end by calling it an hourglass .
- 4. So the user is never staring at a blank browser window and an hourglass icon , waiting around for the server to do something .
- 5. It was even funnier to me because I 'd brought my own hourglass , which the studio people said I absolutely could not take out .