Home > Synonyms > Synonyms for hourglass

Synonyms for hourglass

Grammar : Noun
Spell : ouuh r-glas, -glahs, ou-er-
Phonetic Transcription : ˈaʊərˌglæs, -ˌglɑs, ˈaʊ ər-

Top 10 synonyms for hourglass
Other synonyms for the word hourglass

Définition of hourglass

Origin :
  • 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]
  • As in chronometer : noun watch
  • As in timepiece : noun device that tells time
  • As in clock : noun timekeeping device
Example sentences :
  • The marble was but roughly hewn, in lines that held the suggestion of an hourglass.
  • Extract from : « A Bookful of Girls » by Anna Fuller
  • There is a good oak pulpit, with hourglass holder, and some heavy 15th-cent.
  • Extract from : « Somerset » by G.W. Wade and J.H. Wade
  • To calculate it one must reckon a century for every turn of the hourglass.
  • Extract from : « John L. Stoddard's Lectures, Vol. 10 (of 10) » by John L. Stoddard
  • At the sound the bearded old man raises his sceptre, opens his mouth, and turns an hourglass.
  • Extract from : « Christopher and the Clockmakers » by Sara Ware Bassett
  • I think an hourglass running out would help the notion; perhaps her little tilings upon his knee, or in his hand.
  • Extract from : « The Letters of Charles Dickens » by Charles Dickens
  • The latter had an hourglass on his head, and in his hand a scythe, with which he aimed a blow at Mercury's feet.
  • Extract from : « Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions » by Charles Mackay
  • The hourglass figure can of course be construed as the "filled-in angle" enlarged.
  • Extract from : « Mohave Pottery » by Alfred L. Kroeber
  • It seems to refer to paired crossing lines as part of hourglass figures.
  • Extract from : « Mohave Pottery » by Alfred L. Kroeber
  • Sometimes it will be nearly globular, again long and thin, or it may be constricted like an hourglass.
  • Extract from : « The Sea-beach at Ebb-tide » by Augusta Foote Arnold
  • All refused to answer her inquiries, but one of them, with a sinister smile, placed the hourglass and skull beside her.
  • Extract from : « The Lancashire Witches » by William Harrison Ainsworth
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019