1. (More fully four o’clock flower.) A name for the plant Mirabilis Jalapa or Marvel of Peru.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 166. Jalap or Four o’ Clock Flower. This plant is very common on the Island of Jamaica, and rises generally by a branched stalk to the height of about two feet and a half.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xvi. 211. In the West Indian Islands, where it [Marvel of Peru] is very common, they call it four o’clock flower.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., iv. Here, also, in summer, various brilliant annuals, such as marigolds, petunias, four-o’clocks, found an indulgent corner in which to unfold their splendors.
1882. J. Smith, Dict. Pop. Names Plants, 269. Marvel of Peru (Mirabilis Jalapa)…. This and M. longiflora are handsome garden plants, opening their pretty tube-like flowers, or properly calyx, in the afternoon, hence called Four-o’clock-flower.
2. The Australian friar-bird, Philemon corniculatus, so called from its cry.
1848. J. Gould, Birds Austral., IV. Descr. pl. 58, Tropidorhynchus Corniculatus. Friar Bird. From the fancied resemblance of its notes to those words, it has obtained from the Colonists the various names of … ‘Four o’clock’, etc.
3. A seed-head of the dandelion. Cf. one o’clock.
1883. Talmage, in Chr. Globe, 13 Sept., 819/1. The hand that had plucked four o’clocks in the meadow.
4. A light meal taken by workmen about four o’clock in the afternoon.
1825. Jamieson, Supp., s.v. Four-hours, A slight refreshment taken by workmen in Birmingham is called a four o’clock.
1841. Hartshorne, Salopia Antiqua, Gloss., 432. Four o’clock, a lunch or bait taken by labourers at this hour in the harvest. Ex. ‘When ’e gettin the harrast they han mwostly a four o’clock.’
1881. Oxf. Gloss., Supp., Four o’clock, a tea in the hayfield.
