hour-glassn. ancient glass instrument measuring anhour by the time taken by a quantity of sand to run from an upper to a lower bulb （古時(shí)用以計(jì)時(shí)的）玻璃沙漏。
△H.V.1.Prol. 30: “Turning the accomplishmentof many years / Into an hour-glass；” i.e. into thespace of an hour. (An Elizabethan play usually tooktwo or three hours to act.)把許多年才能辦完的事情都塞進(jìn)一個(gè)小時(shí)之內(nèi)演完。
△Mer.1.1.25:“I should not see thesandy hour-glass run / But I should think of shallowsand of flats.”我只要一看計(jì)時(shí)的玻璃沙漏，就不免要想到淺灘和海底。 |