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3 definitions found
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]:
hourglass
noun: 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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