11th Hour?

Question

What doe the 11th hour mean? Why the 11th one? And where does this come from?

Answer 1

What is the origin of the phrase "the 11th hour"?

This reference says it is from the Bible.

ELEVENTH HOUR - "Late; shortly before an anticipated event. Matthew's parable of the laborers in the vineyard (20: 2-16) has the men hired at the eleventh hour being paid as much as the ones hired early in the morning, even though the eleventh-hour people only worked for an hour. From this sense of being barely in time to receive some benefit comes the concept of time running out." " From "The Dictionary of Cliches" by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).

And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? (Matthew 20:6)

They counted 12 hours from 6 a.m. (or the hour of sunrise) to 6 p.m (or the hour of sunset). Thus the third hour corresponds to our our 9 a.m., the sixth to 12 o'clock, or noon, the ninth to 3 p.m., and "the eleventh hour" to 5 p.m.


The 11th hour means you have completed something approaching close to the deadline. The 11th hour is chosen because it is the hour before the last hour in our 12 hour clock time system.

Answer 2

The way that people use it now....it means that they're close to a deadline. When they say it's the 11th hour, it means that the time has almost come. It could mean death, or it could be an acheivement, or an event.

Answer 3

The Eleventh Hour is a figure of speech referring to the last moments before a deadline, or meant to imply that a decisive or "final" moment is near.

Answer 4

it means running out of time. Just shortly before the end.

Answer 5

it means that something is about to end.