# Ora

/ˈɔɹə/ (US) · /ˈɔːɹɐ/ (UK) · CEFR C2 · Noun

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/ora
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Definition

an old word for an hour or a specific time of day. You will mostly see this in very old books or poems.

For teachers: a historical unit of time or a specific hour, derived from the Latin word for hour. Primarily encountered in archaic literary contexts or specific historical legal texts.

## Examples

- The clock struck the ora of midnight.
- In the ancient manuscript, the monk recorded the exact ora of the solar eclipse.
- The poet used the term ora to evoke a sense of timelessness, harkening back to a period when the measurement of the day was tied to the canonical hours.

## Usage notes

- Archaic; almost entirely replaced by 'hour' in modern English.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.