girl-hour

noun

A unit of computing power in the context of 1940s–1970s technology equal to one female worker working for one hour, for example, writing code or entering data to punch cards.

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Meanings

noungirl-hour (plural girl-hours)

plural girl-hours

  1. historicalA unit of computing power in the context of 1940s–1970s technology equal to one female worker working for one hour, for example, writing code or entering data to punch cards.

    THEN by adopting automatic cartoning machine, productivity per girl-hour was increased by one-third.

    1950, Food Engineering, volume 22, Chilton Company, page 56

Origin

From girl + hour.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

girl-hour. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/girl-hour

MLA

“girl-hour.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/girl-hour. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “girl-hour,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/girl-hour.

Source: girl-hour on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.