| Hourglass (n.) 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. Thesaurus Entries 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 |