From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Hourglass \Hour"glass'\, noun An instrument for measuring time, especially the interval of an hour. It consists of a glass vessel having two compartments, from the uppermost of which a quantity of sand, water, or mercury occupies an hour in running through a small aperture unto the lower.
Note: A similar instrument measuring any other interval of time takes its name from the interval measured; as, a {half-hour glass}, a {half-minute glass}. A {three-minute glass} is sometimes called an egg-glass, from being used to time the boiling of eggs.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a sandglass that runs for sixty minutes
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
39 Moby Thesaurus words for "hourglass": abbreviation, astriction, astringency, bottleneck, cervix, circumscription, coarctation, compactedness, compaction, compression, compressure, concentration, condensation, consolidation, constriction, constringency, contraction, contracture, curtailment, decrease, diminuendo, hourglass figure, isthmus, knitting, narrow place, narrowing, neck, puckering, pursing, reduction, shortening, solidification, stranglement, strangulation, striction, stricture, systole, wasp waist, wrinkling
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