clocking

Pluralclockings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of clock.

   The lab kept clocking each reaction down to the millisecond.

   Clocking the sprinter at record speed, the timekeeper double-checked his stopwatch.

   Note

   One -ing form carries every meaning of the verb, from the stopwatch to the street. Timing a race or measuring speed is the neutral use. In slang, clocking someone means hitting them hard. Informally, it means noticing or sizing someone up, including recognizing them as trans or gay. Context decides, so "she was clocking him" needs a setting. Only the timing noun takes a plural, clockings.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A measurement of elapsed time obtained by reading a clock or timer.

   The athlete's clocking of 9.8 seconds set a new national record.

   Officials compared the two clockings before declaring a winner.

   Similartime

   Note

   A count noun of record-keeping: clockings are made, compared and filed. Railroad teams conducted clockings of every train movement at freight yards, and a supervisor might read the clockings of two employees to see who skipped a break. The plural comes naturally because a clocking is usually one entry in a series. It is closer to a line on a timesheet than to the act of timing, which belongs to the verb form.

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