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FOUR O'CLOCK
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Any of several plants of the genus Mirabilis having flowers that open in late afternoon
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("four o'clock" is a kind of...):
flower (a plant cultivated for its blooms or blossoms)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "four o'clock"):
common four-o'clock; marvel-of-Peru; Mirabilis jalapa; Mirabilis uniflora (common garden plant of North America having fragrant red or purple or yellow or white flowers that open in late afternoon)
California four o'clock; Mirabilis californica; Mirabilis laevis (California four o'clock with purple-red flowers)
maravilla; Mirabilis longiflora; sweet four o'clock (leafy wildflower having fragrant slender white or pale pink trumpet-shaped flowers; southwestern United States and northern Mexico)
Colorado four o'clock; desert four o'clock; maravilla; Mirabilis multiflora (wildflower having vibrant deep pink tubular evening-blooming flowers; found in sandy and desert areas from southern California to southern Colorado and into Mexico)
Mirabilis oblongifolia; mountain four o'clock (leafy wildflower with lavender-pink flowers that open in the evening and remain through cool part of the next day; found in open woods or brush in mountains of southern Colorado to Arizona and into Mexico)
Holonyms ("four o'clock" is a member of...):
genus Mirabilis; Mirabilis (four o'clocks)
Context examples:
If ever there was a donkey trespassing on my green, said my aunt, with emphasis, there was one this afternoon at four o'clock.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Daylight began to forsake the red-room; it was past four o'clock, and the beclouded afternoon was tending to drear twilight.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Later in the morning, and just as the girls were going to separate in preparation for the regular four o'clock dinner, the hero of this inimitable charade walked in again.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
This only need be said;—that when they all sat down to table at four o'clock, about three hours after his arrival, he had secured his lady, engaged her mother's consent, and was not only in the rapturous profession of the lover, but, in the reality of reason and truth, one of the happiest of men.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
It was four o'clock, and as the season was near the last of July or first of August,—he did not know the precise date within a week or two,—he knew that the sun roughly marked the northwest.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
The day was bright, her courage high; at four o'clock, the sun was now two hours above the horizon, and it would be only her retiring to dress half an hour earlier than usual.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my late honoured father always gave me much uneasiness, and since I have had the misfortune to lose him, I have frequently wished to heal the breach; but for some time I was kept back by my own doubts, fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be on good terms with anyone with whom it had always pleased him to be at variance.—'There, Mrs. Bennet.'—My mind, however, is now made up on the subject, for having received ordination at Easter, I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of England. As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds I flatter myself that my present overtures are highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my being next in the entail of Longbourn estate will be kindly overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the offered olive-branch. I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends—but of this hereafter. If you should have no objection to receive me into your house, I propose myself the satisfaction of waiting on you and your family, Monday, November 18th, by four o'clock, and shall probably trespass on your hospitality till the Saturday se'ennight following, which I can do without any inconvenience, as Lady Catherine is far from objecting to my occasional absence on a Sunday, provided that some other clergyman is engaged to do the duty of the day.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
On Monday next, on the arrival of the four o'clock afternoon coach at Canterbury, my foot will be on my native heath—my name, Micawber!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
All this is visible to you by the light of an oil lamp hanging from the ceiling, and by that of an excellent fire, near which I sit in my cloak and bonnet; my muff and umbrella lie on the table, and I am warming away the numbness and chill contracted by sixteen hours' exposure to the rawness of an October day: I left Lowton at four o'clock a.m., and the Millcote town clock is now just striking eight.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Anxiety and hope now oppressed her in equal degrees, and left her no moment of tranquillity till the arrival of Mr. Harris at four o'clock;—when his assurances, his felicitations on a recovery in her sister even surpassing his expectation, gave her confidence, comfort, and tears of joy.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
