from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Hour \Hour\, n. [OE. hour, our, hore, ure, OF. hore, ore, ure,
F. heure, L. hora, fr. Gr. ?, orig., a definite space of
time, fixed by natural laws; hence, a season, the time of the
day, an hour. See {Year}, and cf. {Horologe}, {Horoscope}.]
1. The twenty-fourth part of a day; sixty minutes.
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2. The time of the day, as expressed in hours and minutes,
and indicated by a timepiece; as, what is the hour? At
what hour shall we meet?
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3. Fixed or appointed time; conjuncture; a particular time or
occasion; as, the hour of greatest peril; the man for the
hour.
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Woman, . . . mine hour is not yet come. --John ii.
4.
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This is your hour, and the power of darkness. --Luke
xxii. 53.
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4. pl. (R. C. Ch.) Certain prayers to be repeated at stated
times of the day, as matins and vespers.
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5. A measure of distance traveled.
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Vilvoorden, three hours from Brussels. --J. P.
Peters.
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{After hours}, after the time appointed for one's regular
labor.
{Canonical hours}. See under {Canonical}.
{Hour angle} (Astron.), the angle between the hour circle
passing through a given body, and the meridian of a place.
{Hour circle}. (Astron.)
(a) Any circle of the sphere passing through the two poles
of the equator; esp., one of the circles drawn on an
artificial globe through the poles, and dividing the
equator into spaces of 15[deg], or one hour, each.
(b) A circle upon an equatorial telescope lying parallel
to the plane of the earth's equator, and graduated in
hours and subdivisions of hours of right ascension.
(c) A small brass circle attached to the north pole of an
artificial globe, and divided into twenty-four parts
or hours. It is used to mark differences of time in
working problems on the globe.
{Hour hand}, the hand or index which shows the hour on a
timepiece.
{Hour line}.
(a) (Astron.) A line indicating the hour.
(b) (Dialing) A line on which the shadow falls at a given
hour; the intersection of an hour circle which the
face of the dial.
{Hour plate}, the plate of a timepiece on which the hours are
marked; the dial. --Locke.
{Sidereal hour}, the twenty-fourth part of a sidereal day.
{Solar hour}, the twenty-fourth part of a solar day.
{The small hours}, the early hours of the morning, as one
o'clock, two o'clock, etc.
{To keep good hours}, to be regular in going to bed early.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
canonic \ca*non"ic\ (k[.a]*n[o^]n"[i^]k), canonical
\ca*non"ic*al\ (k[.a]*n[o^]n"[i^]*kal), a. [L. canonicus, LL.
canonicalis, fr. L. canon: cf. F. canonique. See {canon}.]
Of or pertaining to a canon; established by, or according to,
a canon or canons. "The oath of canonical obedience."
--Hallam.
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2. Appearing in a Biblical canon; as, a canonical book of the
Christian New Testament.
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3. Accepted as authoritative; recognized.
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4. (Math.) In its standard form, usually also the simplest
form; -- of an equation or coordinate.
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5. (Linguistics) Reduced to the simplest and most significant
form possible without loss of generality; as, a canonical
syllable pattern. Opposite of {nonstandard}.
Syn: standard. [WordNet 1.5]
6. Pertaining to or resembling a musical canon.
[PJC]
{Canonical books}, or {Canonical Scriptures}, those books
which are declared by the canons of the church to be of
divine inspiration; -- called collectively {the canon}.
The Roman Catholic Church holds as canonical several books
which Protestants reject as apocryphal.
{Canonical epistles}, an appellation given to the epistles
called also general or catholic. See {Catholic epistles},
under {Canholic}.
{Canonical form} (Math.), the simples or most symmetrical
form to which all functions of the same class can be
reduced without lose of generality.
{Canonical hours}, certain stated times of the day, fixed by
ecclesiastical laws, and appropriated to the offices of
prayer and devotion; also, certain portions of the
Breviary, to be used at stated hours of the day. In
England, this name is also given to the hours from 8 a. m.
to 3 p. m. (formerly 8 a. m. to 12 m.) before and after
which marriage can not be legally performed in any parish
church.
{Canonical letters}, letters of several kinds, formerly given
by a bishop to traveling clergymen or laymen, to show that
they were entitled to receive the communion, and to
distinguish them from heretics.
{Canonical life}, the method or rule of living prescribed by
the ancient clergy who lived in community; a course of
living prescribed for the clergy, less rigid than the
monastic, and more restrained that the secular.
{Canonical obedience}, submission to the canons of a church,
especially the submission of the inferior clergy to their
bishops, and of other religious orders to their superiors.
{Canonical punishments}, such as the church may inflict, as
excommunication, degradation, penance, etc.
{Canonical sins} (Anc. Church.), those for which capital
punishment or public penance decreed by the canon was
inflicted, as idolatry, murder, adultery, heresy.
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