before the hour

idiom

—used with a certain number of minutes to indicate how long before the beginning of an hour something will happen

Trains leave the station every hour at ten minutes before the hour.

Examples of before the hour in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

After coming on as a sub just before the hour in the 5-1 pre-Christmas win against Crystal Palace, Rice put in a high-energy cameo that has been the template for his performances since. —Jordan Campbell, The Athletic, 20 Feb. 2025

Just before the hour mark, Coufal and Mavropanos played Patson Daka and Kasey McAteer onside. —Roshane Thomas, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024

Endrick Felipe has only started one game for Real Madrid and was hauled off before the hour mark in the away defeat to Lille, but has been promising in his substitute appearances with debut goals in La Liga and the Champions League. —Sam Leveridge, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024

His number came up just before the hour mark in the Community Shield against Manchester City, too. —Mark Critchley, The Athletic, 29 Aug. 2024

Just before the hour mark, Brighton’s João Pedro beat several defenders but shot straight at Areola. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Jan. 2024

And who else was sent to the jury house before the hour was up? —Rebecca Iannucci, TVLine, 26 Sep. 2024

Demiral got his second of the game when the defender powered a header home shortly before the hour mark. —Ben Morse, CNN, 2 July 2024

Rhymes for before the hour

• airpower
• brainpower
• devour
• empower
• firepower
• horsepower
• manpower
• mayflower
• safflower
• sunflower
• wallflower
• watchtower