hour-circle

(our’sér’k1), n. In a str on.: (a) Any great circle of the sphere which pa es through the two poles: so called because the hour of the day is ascertained when the circle upon which the sun is for the time being is ascertained. (0) A circle upon an equatorial telescope lying parallel to the plane of the earth’s equator, and graduated into hours and subdivisions of hours. hour-gla (our’glas), ». and a. I,. 1, An instrument for measuring time, consisting of a gla ve el constricted to a narrow pa age in the middle, through which a quantity of sand, or sometimes of mereury, runs from the upper part into the lower in exactly am hour. At the end of the hour the gla may be reversed, when the sand will run back for another hour, Hour-gla es are now seldom used, though formerly very common. Similar instruments intended to mark shorter intervals are named accordingly, asa half-hour or a ten-minute gla . A three minute gla , to boil eggs by, is called an egg-gla . T should not see the sandy hour-gla run, But I should think of shallows and of flats. Shak., M. of V., i. 1. Time, like a preacher in the days of the Puritans, turned the hour-gla on his high pulpit, the church belfry. Long fellow, Hyper i on, iv. 5. 2+. The time measured by an hour-gla ; an hour. Turning the accomplishment of many years Into an hour-gla . Shak., Hen. V., Prol. II, a. Having the form of an hour-gla .— Hour-gla contraction. See contraction. hour-hand (our’hand),. The hand or pointed pin which indicates the hour on a timepiece.