# clock Pronunciation: say "KLOK" US /klɑk/, UK /klɒk/ ## Noun 1. An instrument that measures and displays time, particularly the time of day. - Simple: A device that shows or measures the time of day. - _A large clock hung above the station entrance._ - _The town's clocks all struck midnight at once._ 2. The time permitted or left for a game, task, or legal process, pictured as ticking away. - Simple: The time left for a game, task, or legal process, thought of as running out. - _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._ 4. The built-in system in a living thing that governs daily cycles such as sleep, or other processes that follow a schedule. - Simple: The system inside a living thing that controls when it sleeps, wakes, or does other things on 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._ 5. The device employees use to record the times they start and finish work; a time clock. - Simple: A machine at work that records when workers arrive and leave. - _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._ 6. A timing signal that keeps the digital circuits in semiconductor chips or modules operating in step. - Simple: A steady electronic signal that keeps all parts of a computer chip working 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._ 11. A single cycle of a CPU's timing signal; one T-state, the basic unit for counting how long a processor's operations take. *(colloquial)* - Simple: One tick of a computer chip's timing signal, the smallest step in its work. - _That instruction completes in a single clock on modern processors._ - _The cache miss cost the program hundreds of clocks._ 12. The odometer of a motor vehicle, which records the total distance it has traveled. *(British)* - Simple: The part of a car that counts how many miles it has gone. - _The dealer assured us the eighty thousand miles on the clock were genuine._ - _Buyers should compare the clock against the car's service history before paying a deposit._ 15. The downy seed head of a dandelion, formed after the flower fades. *(British)* - Simple: The soft white ball of seeds that appears on a dandelion after the flower dies. - _Children love blowing on a dandelion until the whole clock has scattered._ - _By late June every dandelion on the lawn carried a gray-white clock of seeds._ 16. A luck-based solitaire card game in which the cards are dealt to represent the face of a clock. - Simple: A card game for one player where the cards are laid out like the face of a clock. - _She dealt out a game of clock and lost within a dozen turns._ - _Clock requires no decisions, so it suits players who just want to watch the cards fall._ 17. A decorative pattern, embroidered or woven, near the heel of a sock or stocking. - Simple: A small pattern sewn into a sock or stocking near the heel. - _The shop stocked silk hose with delicate clocks in contrasting thread._ - _A single gold clock ran from the heel of each stocking up toward the calf._ 20. A big beetle of any of several kinds, most notably the European dung beetle, Geotrupes stercorarius. - Simple: A big beetle, especially the black kind that feeds on animal droppings. - _A heavy clock blundered into the lamplight and landed on the windowsill._ - _Several clocks were tunneling beneath the cowpats in the evening pasture._ ## Verb 3. To achieve or log a given time, score, count, or total, such as a number of views, wins, or points. *(colloquial)* - Simple: To reach or get a certain time, score, or number, such as 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._ 7. To measure how long something takes or how fast someone or something is going. - Simple: To measure how long something takes or how fast something goes. - _Engineers clocked the software update at forty-five seconds._ - _Officials clock each lap to the hundredth of a second._ 9. To notice someone or something, or to recognize them for what they are. *(colloquial)* - Simple: To notice someone or something, or to realize what they really are. - _She clocked the security camera as soon as she entered the store._ - _Good waiters clock an empty glass before you have to ask._ 10. To hit someone heavily; to land a hard blow. *(slang)* - Simple: To hit someone very hard. - _He clocked a heckler and got thrown out of the bar._ - _One more insult and she'll clock him._ 8. To operate a processor, memory, or another circuit at a set clock speed, or to supply it with timing pulses. - Simple: To make a computer chip or memory work at a certain speed, or send it regular timing signals. - _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._ 13. To falsify the reading of a vehicle's odometer. *(slang, British)* - Simple: To turn back the numbers that show how far a car has gone, to trick buyers. - _Dealers who clock their vehicles risk prosecution for fraud._ - _The inspection revealed that the van had been clocked at least twice._ 14. To beat a video game, playing it through to the end. *(slang, Australia, British, New Zealand)* - Simple: To finish a video game by getting all the way to the end. - _Speedrunners compete to clock the game in under twenty minutes._ - _After months of trying, she finally clocked the notoriously difficult platformer._ 18. To ornament something, such as the side of a stocking, with figured work. - Simple: To sew or knit a small pattern onto something, especially the side of a sock. - _The hosier clocked the stockings with a vine motif in green silk._ - _Skilled needlewomen would clock fine hose for wealthy clients._ ## Noun 19. A watch; a timepiece carried on the person. *(obsolete, British)* - Simple: A watch, the small device a person carries to tell the time. ## Verb 21. Of a hen, to utter its characteristic clucking sound. *(dated, Scotland)* - Simple: To make the soft, short sounds of a hen. - _Somewhere in the dark barn a hen clocked and resettled on her roost._ - _The older birds clock contentedly whenever the farmer scatters grain._ 22. Of a hen, to sit on eggs in order to hatch them; to brood. *(dated, Scotland)* - Simple: For a hen, to sit on her eggs and keep them warm until the chicks hatch. ## Origin **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. **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. **Meanings 21–22** — Old English cloccian turned into Middle English clokken. The word is imitative at root, like English "cluck" and Dutch klokken. Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/clock (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).