Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A glass vessel consisting of two equal, nearly conical, and coaxial receptacles connected by a small opening at their vertices, one of which contains sand, which, if the glass is turned, runs through the opening into the other, the amount of sand being so regulated that a certain space of time is exactly measured by its running through. Compare hour-glass, minute-glass.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An instrument for measuring time by the running of sand. See
hourglass .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An instrument for measuring the passage of time by the passage of sand through a narrow opening.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun timepiece in which the passage of time is indicated by the flow of sand from one transparent container to another through a narrow passage
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The set designer explains that the sandglass chamber was not meant to be disassembled, but stuff like this happens all the time on a movie production - making the impossible possible.
/Film Visits The Set of Prince Of Persia - Part 1 | /Film 2009
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He glanced at the sandglass that he had turned over just moments ago and then thoughtfully back to the Masterharper.
Dragon's Fire McCaffrey, Anne 2006
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To look out fairly was impossible; for not only was all the lower part of the frame hillocked up like a sandglass, and the sides filled in with dusky plaits, but even in the middle, where some outlook was, it led to very little.
Erema Richard Doddridge 2004
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“J” pennibs, obtained from same department of same firm: an old sandglass which rolled containing sand which rolled: a sealed prophecy (never unsealed) written by Leopold Bloom in 1886 concerning the consequences of the passing into law of William
Ulysses 2003
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After Skent returned with the two scrolls and she signed and sealed the original and sent Fridric off with it, Anna glanced at the sandglass on the wall stand, nearing the eighth glass of the day.
The Spellsong War Modesitt, L. E. 1998
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The consultation took some little time, the second half of one sandglass and the beginning of the next.
Hornblower In The West Indies Forester, C. S. 1958
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Frequently we read by an old spoiled sandglass, which runs in a minute or two.
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This would, however, be imperceptible so long as their lengths were not measured by some accurate mechanical time-measurer such as a clepsydra, sandglass, pendulum, or spring clock.
The Astronomy of the Bible An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy Scripture 1889
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Partridge squatted beside the ring with a sandglass — used for timing the casting of the log — in front of him.
Mr. Midshipman Easy Marryat, Frederick, 1792-1848 1873
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To look out fairly was impossible; for not only was all the lower part of the frame hillocked up like a sandglass, and the sides filled in with dusky plaits, but even in the middle, where some outlook was, it led to very little.
yarb commented on the word sandglass
Citation on clepsydra.
June 5, 2008