1. hōra — Lewis & Short
hōra, ae (archaic
I gen. sing. horāï, Lucr. 1, 1016.—In abl. plur. HORABVS, Inscr. Orell. 4601), f. kindred with w(/ra; Zend yare, year; ayara, day; orig. for vosara, from ve/ar, ver, (lit., a definite space of time, fixed by natural laws; hence, as in Greek).
I An hour.
A Lit. (among the Romans, of varying length, according to the time of year, from sunrise to sunset being reckoned as twelve hours; cf.:
aetas, aevum, tempus, dies): aestiva,Mart. 12, 1, 4; cf.:
viginti milia passuum horis quinque duntaxat aestivis conficienda sunt,Veg. Mil. 1, 9:
horam amplius jam in demoliendo signo moliebantur,Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 43, § 95:
īdem eadem possunt horam durare probantes?Hor. Ep. 1, 1, 82:
ternas epistolas in hora dare,Cic. Fam. 15, 16, 1:
in hora saepe ducentos versus dictabat,Hor. S. 1, 4, 9:
horas tres dicere,Cic. Att. 4, 2, 4:
primum dormiit ad horas tres,id. ib. 10, 13, 1:
quatuor horarum spatio antecedens,Caes. B. C. 3, 79 fin.:
quatuor aut plures aulaea premuntur in horas,Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 189:
non amplius quam septem horas dormiebat,Suet. Aug. 78:
haec (cogitatio) paucis admodum horis magnas etiam causas complectitur,Quint. 10, 6, 1:
paucissimarum horarum consulatus,Plin. 7, 53, 54, § 181:
hora quota est?what o'clock is it? Hor. S. 2, 6, 44:
nuntiare horas,to tell the time of day, Juv. 10, 216; cf.:
cum a puero quaesisset horas,Plin. 7, 53, 54, § 182; Suet. Dom. 16:
si te grata quies et primam somnus in horam Delectat,Hor. Ep. 1, 17, 6:
hora secunda postridie,Cic. Quint. 6, 25:
quartā vix demum exponimur horā,Hor. S. 1, 5, 23:
cum ad te quinta fere hora venissem,Cic. Pis. 6, 13:
ea res acta est, cum hora sexta vix Pompeius perorasset, usque ad horam octavam,id. Q. Fr. 2, 3, 2:
hora fere nona,id. ib.:
hora diei decima fere,id. Phil. 2, 31, 77:
hora fere undecima aut non multo secus,id. Mil. 10, 29: prima salutantes atque altera continet hora;
Exercet raucos tertia causidicos: In quintam varios extendit Roma labores: Sexta quies lassis, septima finis erit, etc.,Mart. 4, 8:
post horam primam noctis. ... decem horis nocturnis,Cic. Rosc. Am. 7, 19:
prima noctis,Suet. Aug. 76:
tribus nocturnis,id. Calig. 50:
id quidem in horam diei quintam vel octavam spectare maluerint, i. e.,towards that part of the heavens where the sun is at the fifth or eighth hour, Plin. 17, 11, 16, § 84; 6, 32, 37, § 202:
hic tu fortasse eris diligens, ne quam ego horam de meis legitimis horis remittam,of the hours allowed to an orator, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 9, § 25:
hora partūs,the hour of one's birth, natal hour, Suet. Aug. 94:
hora natalis,Hor. C. 2, 17, 19:
mortis,Suet. Dom. 14:
cenae,id. Claud. 8:
pugnae,id. Aug. 16:
somni,id. Dom. 21 et saep.:
ad horam venire,at the hour, punctually, Sen. Q. N. 2, 16:
clavum mutare in horas,every hour, hourly, Hor. S. 2, 7, 10; id. C. 2, 13, 14; id. A. P. 160; Plin. Ep. 3, 17, 3.—
2 Prov.
a In horam vivere, to care only for the passing hour, to live from hand to mouth, Cic. Phil. 5, 9, 25.—
b Omnium horarum homo (amicus, etc.), ready, active, well disposed at all times, Quint. 6, 3, 110 Spald.; Suet. Tib. 42 (for which:
C. Publicium solitum dicere, P. Mummium cuivis tempori hominem esse,Cic. de Or. 2, 67, 271).—
B Transf., in plur.: hōrae, ārum, a horologe, dial, clock:
cum machinatione quadam moveri aliquid videmus, ut sphaeram, ut horas,Cic. N. D. 2, 38, 97; Petr. 71; cf.:
videt oscitantem judicem, mittentem ad horas,to look at the clock, Cic. Brut. 54, 200.—
II Poet., in gen., time, time of year, season:
tu quamcumque deus tibi fortunaverit horam, Grata sume manu,Hor. Ep. 1, 11, 22:
et mihi forsan, tibi quod negarit, Porriget hora,id. C. 2, 16, 31:
neu fluitem dubiae spe pendulus horae,id. Ep. 1, 18, 110:
qui recte vivendi prorogat horam,id. ib. 1, 2, 41:
extremo veniet mollior hora die,Prop. 2, 28 (3, 24), 16:
numquam te crastina fallet Hora,Verg. G. 1, 426:
sub verni temporis horam,Hor. A. P. 302;
so of spring: genitalis anni,Plin. 9, 35, 54, § 107:
flagrantis atrox hora Caniculae,Hor. C. 3, 13, 9:
(hae latebrae) Incolumem tibi me praestant Septembribus horis,id. Ep. 1, 16, 16:
arbor ipsa omnibus horis pomifera est,at all seasons, all the year round, Plin. 12, 3, 7, § 15.—
III Personified: Hōrae, ārum, f., like the Gr. *(/wrai, the Hours, daughters of Jupiter and Themis, goddesses that presided over the changes of the seasons and kept watch at the gates of heaven, Ov. M. 2, 26; 118; Val. Fl. 4, 92; Stat. Th. 3, 410; Ov. F. 1, 125; 5, 217; Hyg. Fab. 183.