DictionaryAI

clock

SayKLOK/klɑk//klɒk/

Pluralclocks

Verbclocks, clocking, clocked

22 meanings of clock

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable or uncountable
    An instrument that measures and displays time, particularly the time of day.

    A large clock hung above the station entrance.

    The town's clocks all struck midnight at once.

    UsageA clock usually hangs or stands somewhere; a watch is worn or carried. Clocks strike or chime the hour.

    Similartimepiece

    Note

    Tennyson's clock 'beats out the little lives of men' in In Memoriam (1850), and a village church clock still chimes the hours and the quarters.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  2. 2
    noun
    The time permitted or left for a game, task, or legal process, pictured as ticking away.

    Prosecutors must bring the case to trial before the clock runs out under the speedy-trial law.

    Up by three, the quarterback knelt twice to drain the clock.

    UsageCommon set phrases: run out the clock, race against the clock, the clock is ticking.

    Note

    Sport gave this sense many of its idioms. A team protecting a lead runs out the clock or runs down the clock; a team in a hurry stops it; a player with a deadline is racing against the clock. Outside sport the same picture covers deadlines of every kind, and the clock is ticking warns that time is short.

  3. 3
    verbcolloquialtransitive
    To achieve or log a given time, score, count, or total, such as a number of views, wins, or points.

    Runners who clock under three hours here qualify for next year's race.

    The striker clocked his twentieth goal of the season in Saturday's win.

    UsageOften clock up for a running total: clock up a million views, clock up 100,000 miles.

    Similarrecord, log, notch

    Note

    Here the subject is the performer, not the timekeeper. In the timing sense a coach clocks a runner; here the runner clocks a time.

  4. 4
    nouncountable
    The built-in system in a living thing that governs daily cycles such as sleep, or other processes that follow a schedule.

    Jet lag sets in when your internal clock falls out of step with the local time.

    Bright morning light helps reset the clock that tells your body when to feel sleepy.

    UsageUsually in compounds: body clock, internal clock, biological clock.

    Note

    Scientists speak of a circadian clock and of resetting it with light, which is why jet lag and shift work are described as a clock thrown out of step. Biological clock also has a figurative use for the years in which a woman can have children, as in her biological clock is ticking.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Light can reset the internal circadian clock. cdc.gov
    • Jet lag and shift work can disrupt normal circadian timing. nigms.nih.gov
  5. 5
    punch-in machinenouncountable or uncountable
    The device employees use to record the times they start and finish work; a time clock.

    She punched the clock at 6:58, two minutes before her shift started.

    Forget to hit the clock on your way out and payroll will shortchange you.

    UsageMostly in punch the clock, on the clock (working and paid) and off the clock (on your own time).

  6. 6
    timing signalnouncountable or uncountable
    A timing signal that keeps the digital circuits in semiconductor chips or modules operating in step.

    Without a stable clock, the processor's circuits quickly fall out of sync.

    Engineers distribute the clock across the chip so every module switches at the same instant.

    Note

    In electronics the clock is less a timekeeper than a metronome. It is a periodic signal, typically a square wave from a crystal oscillator or phase-locked loop, that tells sequential logic when to change state. Its frequency sets the ceiling on how fast that logic can run, and each of its periods is what programmers count as a single clock cycle.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

    • An electronic clock is a periodic signal used to synchronize digital operations. ni.com
    • Clock signals commonly take the form of square waves. en.wikipedia.org
    • A crystal oscillator can supply a clock signal. ni.com
    • A phase-locked loop can generate a clock signal. ti.com
    • The clock controls when sequential state elements update. cseweb.ucsd.edu
    • Clock frequency governs the rate of clocked state updates. intel.com
    • One complete clock period corresponds to one clock cycle. cseweb.ucsd.edu
  7. 7
    time itverbtransitive
    To measure how long something takes or how fast someone or something is going.

    Engineers clocked the software update at forty-five seconds.

    Officials clock each lap to the hundredth of a second.

    UsageOften with at before the result: clocked the race at just under ten minutes.

    Similartime, measure, record

  8. 8
    verbtransitivecomputing
    To operate a processor, memory, or another circuit at a set clock speed, or to supply it with timing pulses.

    Manufacturers clock the cores at different speeds depending on the workload.

    Every register in the design is clocked by one shared signal from the oscillator.

    Note

    A hardware term, often passive: a chip is clocked at 3.2 GHz. Its derivatives are common in computing talk, since to overclock a processor is to run it faster than its rated speed, and to underclock it is to slow it down to save power or heat. The noun clock speed names the rate itself.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • A chip can operate at a clock speed of 3.2 GHz; the number is illustrative. www-hpc.cea.fr
    • Overclocking runs a processor above its specified clock frequency. intel.com
    • Underclocking lowers a processor's clock frequency and can reduce power consumption or heat generation. ti.com

More uses

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of clock apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–16, 19

First recorded around 1370, clock comes from Middle English clokke, borrowed from Middle Dutch clocke ('bell, clock'), from Medieval Latin clocca, probably of Celtic origin (compare Welsh cloch, 'bell'); cloak and cloche come from the same Latin word. A dandelion's seed head is called a clock after a children's game of telling the hour by counting the puffs it takes to blow all the seeds away.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

  • Clock is first recorded around 1370. en.wiktionary.org
  • Clock comes from Middle English clokke, borrowed from Middle Dutch clocke, meaning 'bell, clock'. en.wiktionary.org
  • The word ultimately derives from Medieval Latin clocca. en.wikipedia.org
  • Medieval Latin clocca is probably of Celtic origin. en.wiktionary.org
  • Welsh cloch means 'bell'. en.wiktionary.org
  • Cloak and cloche derive from the same Latin word as clock. en.wiktionary.org
  • The dandelion name clock relates to children's practice of telling the hour by counting puffs needed to disperse its seeds. gwct.org.uk
Meanings 17–18

For the pattern on a sock or stocking, the origin is uncertain. The designs may first have been bell-shaped, which would tie this word to the 'bell' word behind clock, the timepiece.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

  • The origin of clock meaning a stocking pattern is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
  • The designs may originally have been bell-shaped, potentially connecting this sense to the timepiece word's bell origin. en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 21–22

Old English cloccian turned into Middle English clokken. The word is imitative at root, like English "cluck" and Dutch klokken.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  • Middle English clokken developed from Old English cloccian. en.wiktionary.org
  • Clock in this sense is ultimately imitative, comparable to English cluck and Dutch klokken. en.wiktionary.org