Adjacent Words

Clock definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CLOCK, n.
1. A machine, consisting of wheels moved by weights, so constructed that by a uniform vibration of a pendulum, it measures time, and its divisions, hours, minutes and seconds, with great exactness. It indicates the hour by the stroke of a small hammer on a bell.
The phrases, what oclock is it? It is nine oclock, seem to be contracted from what of the clock? It is nine of the clock.
2. A figure or figured work in the ankle of a stocking.
CLOCK, v.t. To call. [See Cluck.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a timepiece that shows the time of day v
1: measure the time or duration of an event or action or the person who performs an action in a certain period of time; "he clocked the runners" [syn: clock, time]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English clok, from Middle Dutch clocke bell, clock, from Old French or Medieval Latin; Old French dialect (Picard) cloque bell, from Medieval Latin clocca, of Celtic origin; akin to Middle Irish clocc bell Date: 14th century 1. a device other than a watch for indicating or measuring time commonly by means of hands moving on a dial; broadly any periodic system by which time is measured 2. a registering device usually with a dial; specifically odometer 3. time clock 4. a synchronizing device (as in a computer) that produces pulses at regular intervals 5. biological clock II. verb Date: 1883 transitive verb 1. a. to time with a stopwatch or by an electric timing device b. to be timed at 2. to register on a mechanical recording device <wind velocities were clocked at 80 miles per hour> 3. to hit hard 4. chiefly British attain, realize — usually used with up <just clocked up a million…paperback sales — Punch> 5. a. to travel (a distance) over time <clocks more than 15,000 miles a year on business> b. put in 3 <clocking long hours at the office> intransitive verb 1. to have a specified duration or speed — used with in <the movie clocked in at just under 3 hours>; broadly to have a specified measure or value — used with in <the meal clocked at about $15> 2. to register on a time sheet or time clock ; punch — used with in, out, on, off <he clocked in late> • clocker noun III. noun Etymology: perhaps from ¹clock Date: 1530 an ornamental figure on the ankle or side of a stocking or sock

Britannica Concise

Machine or electronic device that measures and records time. A mechanical clock consists of a device that performs regular movements in equal intervals of time, and is linked to a counting mechanism that records the number of movements. The first clocks may have been invented for use in monasteries. The first European public clock that struck the hours was erected in Milan in 1335. The oldest surviving clocks are in England (1386) and France (1389). The first domestic clocks appeared late in the 14th cent. About 1500 Peter Henlein, a German locksmith (1480-1542), began to make the first portable timepieces, small clocks driven by a spring. C. Huygens invented pendulum clocks in 1656. Big Ben, the great clock at Westminster in London, was installed in 1859 and is the standard for all accurate tower pendulum clocks. The most accurate mechanical timekeepers (within a few thousandths of a second per day) are clocks with short pendulums (about 39 in., or 990 mm). In 1929 the vibration of a quartz crystal was first applied to timekeeping; the maximum error of an observatory quartz-crystal clock is only a few ten-thousandths of a second per day. The first atomic clock went into operation in 1951. Atomic clocks, regulated by the natural periodic behavior of a system of atoms (such as vibrations or emission of radiation), can have accuracies exceeding one billionth of a second per day, making them the most accurate clocks yet invented.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 an instrument for measuring time, driven mechanically or electrically and indicating hours, minutes, etc., by hands on a dial or by displayed figures. 2 a any measuring device resembling a clock. b colloq. a speedometer, taximeter, or stopwatch. 3 time taken as an element in competitive sports etc. (ran against the clock). 4 Brit. sl. a person's face. 5 a downy seed-head, esp. that of a dandelion. --v.tr. 1 colloq. a (often foll. by up) attain or register (a stated time, distance, or speed, esp. in a race). b time (a race) with a stopwatch. 2 Brit. sl. hit, esp. on the head. Phrases and idioms: clock golf a game in which a golf ball is putted into a hole from successive points in a circle. clock in (or on) register one's arrival at work, esp. by means of an automatic recording clock. clock off (or out) register one's departure similarly. clock radio a combined radio and alarm clock. round the clock all day and (usu.) night. watch the clock = CLOCK-WATCH. Etymology: ME f. MDu., MLG klocke f. med.L clocca bell, perh. f. Celt. 2. n. an ornamental pattern on the side of a stocking or sock near the ankle. Etymology: 16th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Regulate Reg"u*late (-l[=a]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Regulated (-l[=a]`t[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Regulating.] [L. regulatus, p. p. of regulare, fr. regula. See Regular.] 1. To adjust by rule, method, or established mode; to direct by rule or restriction; to subject to governing principles or laws. The laws which regulate the successions of the seasons. --Macaulay. The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes, and regulated their own police. --Bancroft. 2. To put in good order; as, to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances. 3. To adjust, or maintain, with respect to a desired rate, degree, or condition; as, to regulate the temperature of a room, the pressure of steam, the speed of a machine, etc. To regulate a watch or clock, to adjust its rate of running so that it will keep approximately standard time. Syn: To adjust; dispose; methodize; arrange; direct; order; rule; govern.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beat Beat, n. 1. A stroke; a blow. He, with a careless beat, Struck out the mute creation at a heat. --Dryden. 2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse. 3. (Mus.) (a) The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit. (b) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament. 4. (Acoustics & Mus.) A sudden swelling or re["e]nforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See Beat, v. i., 8. 5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat. 6. A place of habitual or frequent resort. 7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat. [Low] Beat of drum (Mil.), a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc. Beat of a watch, or clock, the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the strokes is at equal or unequal intervals.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Clock Clock, n. [AS. clucge bell; akin to D. klok clock, bell, G. glocke, Dan. klokke, Sw. klocka, Icel. klukka bell, LL. clocca, cloca (whence F. cloche); al perh. of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. clog bell, clock, W. cloch bell. Cf. Cloak.] 1. A machine for measuring time, indicating the hour and other divisions by means of hands moving on a dial plate. Its works are moved by a weight or a spring, and it is often so constructed as to tell the hour by the stroke of a hammer on a bell. It is not adapted, like the watch, to be carried on the person. 2. A watch, esp. one that strikes. [Obs.] --Walton. 3. The striking of a clock. [Obs.] --Dryden. 4. A figure or figured work on the ankle or side of a stocking. --Swift. Note: The phrases what o'clock? it is nine o'clock, etc., are contracted from what of the clock? it is nine of the clock, etc. Alarm clock. See under Alarm. Astronomical clock. (a) A clock of superior construction, with a compensating pendulum, etc., to measure time with great accuracy, for use in astronomical observatories; -- called a regulator when used by watchmakers as a standard for regulating timepieces. (b) A clock with mechanism for indicating certain astronomical phenomena, as the phases of the moon, position of the sun in the ecliptic, equation of time, etc. Electric clock. (a) A clock moved or regulated by electricity or electro-magnetism. (b) A clock connected with an electro-magnetic recording apparatus. Ship's clock (Naut.), a clock arranged to strike from one to eight strokes, at half hourly intervals, marking the divisions of the ship's watches. Sidereal clock, an astronomical clock regulated to keep sidereal time.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Clock Clock (kl[o^]k), v. t. To ornament with figured work, as the side of a stocking.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Clock Clock, v. t. & i. To call, as a hen. See Cluck. [R.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Clock Clock, n. (Zo["o]l.) A large beetle, esp. the European dung beetle (Scarab[ae]us stercorarius).

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(clocks, clocking, clocked) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A clock is an instrument, for example in a room or on the outside of a building, that shows what time of day it is. He was conscious of a clock ticking... He also repairs clocks and watches... ...a digital clock. N-COUNT 2. A time clock in a factory or office is a device that is used to record the hours that people work. Each worker puts a special card into the device when they arrive and leave, and the times are recorded on the card. Government workers were made to punch time clocks morning, noon and night. N-COUNT: oft n N 3. In a car, the clock is the instrument that shows the speed of the car or the distance it has travelled. (mainly BRIT) The car had 160,000 miles on the clock... N-COUNT: usu sing, the N 4. To clock a particular time or speed in a race means to reach that time or speed. Elliott clocked the fastest time this year for the 800 metres... VERB: V n 5. If something or someone is clocked at a particular time or speed, their time or speed is measured at that level. He has been clocked at 11 seconds for 100 metres... VERB: usu passive, be V-ed at amount 6. see also alarm clock, biological clock, body clock, cuckoo clock, grandfather clock, o'clock 7. If you are doing something against the clock, you are doing it in a great hurry, because there is very little time. The emergency services were working against the clock as the tide began to rise... It's now become a race against the clock. PHRASE: PHR after v, n PHR 8. If something is done round the clock or around the clock, it is done all day and all night without stopping. Rescue services have been working round the clock to free stranded motorists... PHRASE: PHR with v, PHR n 9. If you want to turn the clock back or put the clock back, you want to return to a situation that used to exist, usually because the present situation is unpleasant. In some ways we wish we could turn the clock back... We cannot put back the clock. PHRASE: V inflects

Moby Thesaurus

Big Ben, beat time, brood, chronometer, clock movement, clockworks, cover, fix the time, horologe, horologium, keep time, mark time, measure time, set, set the time, sit, ticker, time, timekeeper, timepiece, timer, turnip, watch, watchworks