Standard Lemma guide

hourglass

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈaʊəɡlɑːs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AW1 ER0 G L AE2 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A clock made of two glass vessels connected by a narrow passage through which sand flows.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • After each game turn, invert the hourglass to reset the time limit for the next player.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sandglass, sand timer, watch glass

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A cursor, often shaped like an hourglass, indicating that the computer is busy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computing, engineering, graphical-user-interface, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: egg timer

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To display the cursor as an hourglass indicating that the computer is busy or processing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a sandglass that runs for sixty minutes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sandglass

History

Etymology

From hour + glass.

Across languages

Translations

88 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: سَاعَة رَمْلِيَّة (sāʕa ramliyya) — clock
  • Armenian: ավազի ժամացույց (avazi žamacʻuycʻ) — clock
  • Asturian: reló d'arena — clock
  • Azerbaijani: qum saatı — clock
  • Belarusian: пясо́чны гадзі́ннік (pjasóčny hadzínnik) — clock
  • Breton: eurier-traezh — clock
  • Bulgarian: пя́съчен часо́вник (pjásǎčen časóvnik) — clock
  • Burmese: သဲနာရီ (sai:nari) — clock
  • Catalan: rellotge de sorra — clock
  • Chinese Cantonese: 沙漏 (saa1 lau6) — clock
  • Chinese: 沙漏 (soa-lāu) — clock
  • Chinese Mandarin: 沙漏 (shālòu) — clock
  • Chinese Mandarin: 沙鐘 /沙钟 (shāzhōng) — clock
  • Chinese Mandarin: 沙壺 /沙壶 (shāhú) — clock
  • Czech: přesýpací hodiny — clock
  • Danish: timeglas — clock
  • Dutch: zandloper — clock
  • Esperanto: sablohorloĝo — clock
  • Estonian: liivakell — clock
  • Finnish: tiimalasi — clock
  • French: sablier — clock
  • Galician: reloxo de area — clock
  • Georgian: ქვიშის საათი (kvišis saati) — clock
  • German: Sanduhr — clock
  • Greek: κλεψύδρα (klepsýdra) — clock
  • Gujarati: રેતઘડી (retaghḍī) — clock
  • Hebrew: שעון חול (šʕon ħol) — clock
  • Hindi: रेतघड़ी (retghaṛī) — clock
  • Hindi: बालू घड़ी (bālū ghaṛī) — clock
  • Hungarian: homokóra — clock
  • Icelandic: tímaglas — clock
  • Icelandic: stundaglas — clock
  • Ido: sablo-horlojo — clock
  • Indonesian: jam pasir — clock
  • Italian: clessidra — clock
  • Japanese: 砂時計 (sunadokei) — clock
  • Japanese: 砂漏 (sarō) — clock
  • Kazakh: құм сағат (qūm sağat) — clock
  • Khmer: នាឡិកាខ្សាច់ (niəlekaa khsac) — clock
  • Korean: 모래시계 (moraesigye) — clock
  • Korean: 사루 (saru) — clock
  • Korean: 사루계 (sarugye) — clock
  • Kumyk: хум сагьат (xum sahat) — clock
  • Kyrgyz: кум саат (kum saat) — clock
  • Lao: ນາລິກາຊາຍ (nā li kā sāi) — clock
  • Latvian: smilšu pulkstenis — clock
  • Lithuanian: smėlio laikrodis — clock
  • Macedonian: пе́сочен ча́совник (pésočen čásovnik) — clock
  • Macedonian: пе́сочник (pésočnik) — clock
  • Malay: jam pasir — clock
  • Norman: hôlouoge à sablion — clock
  • Norwegian Bokmål: timeglass — clock
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: timeglas — clock
  • Persian: ساعت شنی (sâ'at-e šeni) — clock
  • Polish: klepsydra — clock
  • Polish: zegar piaskowy — clock
  • Portuguese: ampulheta — clock
  • Romanian: nisiparniță — clock
  • Romanian: clepsidră — clock
  • Russian: песо́чные часы́ (pesóčnyje časý) — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: пешча̀нӣк — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: пјешча̀нӣк — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: пешчани сат — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: пјешчани сат — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: пешчани часовник — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: пјешчани часовник — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: peščànīk — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: pješčànīk — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: peščani sat — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: pješčani sat — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: peščani časovnik — clock
  • Serbo-Croatian: pješčani časovnik — clock
  • Slovak: presýpacie hodiny — clock
  • Slovene: peščena ura — clock
  • Spanish: reloj de arena — clock
  • Spanish: ampolleta — clock
  • Spanish: reloj arenoso/arenáceo/arenisco — clock
  • Swahili: shisha — clock
  • Swedish: timglas — clock
  • Tajik: соати регӣ — clock
  • Thai: นาฬิกาทราย (naa-lí-gaa-saai) — clock
  • Turkish: kum saati — clock
  • Ottoman Turkish: قوم ساعتی (kum saʾatı) — clock
  • Ukrainian: піскови́й годи́нник (piskovýj hodýnnyk) — clock
  • Urdu: ریت گھڑی (ret ghaṛī) — clock
  • Uzbek: qum soat — clock
  • Vietnamese: đồng hồ cát — clock
  • Welsh: awrwydr — clock
Real reading context

hourglass in complete knowledge articles