quarter to
Almost on the hour
Quarter to indicates fifteen minutes before a stated hour.
It's one of several ways to express clock time by referencing how far before or after the hour: It's quarter to five means 4:45.
More common in British English and somewhat old-fashioned in American speech, where four forty-five predominates.
- clockDevice displaying time
- tilUp to, briefly
- minuteSixtieth of an hour
- hourSixty-minute span
- faceHead's anterior surface
fifteen · fifteen minutes · hand · almost · just about · ten to · five minutes · midnight · second · noon · tick · schedule · time check · dial · watch · appointment · train schedule · countdown
- hoursone o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock, five o'clock
- Timesmorning, afternoon, evening, night, noon
- timekeepingclock, watch, watches, clocks, timer
- time expressionsnow, today, soon, tomorrow, later
- clock positionsone o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock, five o'clock
direction relative to the hour
quarter toquarter past
Time notation for :15
half past · on the hour · o'clock · ten past · five past
quarter, quarters, quarterly, quartered, unto, quartering, quarterfinal, quarterdeck, quarterlight