hōra, ae (archaic gen. sing. horāï, Lucr. 1, 1016.—In abl. plur. HORABVS, Inscr. Orell. 4601), f. [kindred with ὥρα; Zend yare, year; ayara, day; orig. for ϝοsara, from ϝέαρ, 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. Ὥραι, 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.