/klɒk/, /klɑk/, [kl̥ɒχ]
OriginFirst use appears c. 1370. From Middle English clokke, clok, cloke (“clock”), from Middle Dutch clocke (“bell, clock”), from Old Dutch *klokka, from Medieval Latin clocca (“bell, clock, cloak”), probably of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *klokkos (“bell”) (compare Welsh cloch (“bell”), Old Irish cloc (“bell, clock”)), either onomatopoeic or from Proto-Indo-European *klek- (“to laugh, cackle”) (compare Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną (“to laugh”)). Cognate with Old English clucge (“bell”), Saterland Frisian Klokke (“bell, clock”), Dutch klok (“clock, bell”), Low German Klock (“bell, clock”), German Glocke (“bell”), Danish and Norwegian klokke (“clock, bell”), Faroese klokka (“clock, bell”), Icelandic klukka (“clock, bell”), Swedish klocka (“clock, bell”). Doublet of cloak and cloche.
- countable, uncountableA chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day.
“When the clock says midnight.”
“The seasons bring the flower again,
And bring the firstling to the flock;
And in the dusk of thee, the clock
Beats out the little lives of men.”
“An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and ”
- attributive, countable, uncountableA common noun relating to an instrument that measures or keeps track of time.
“A 12-hour clock system; an antique clock sale; Acme is a clock manufacturer.”
- British, countable, uncountableThe odometer of a motor vehicle.
“This car has over 300,000 miles on the clock.”
- countable, uncountableAn electrical signal that synchronizes timing among digital circuits of semiconductor chips or modules.
- countable, uncountableThe seed head of a dandelion.
- countable, uncountableA time clock.
“I can't go off to lunch yet: I'm still on the clock.”
“We let the guys use the shop's tools and equipment for their own projects as long as they're off the clock.”
- countable, informal, uncountableA CPU clock cycle, or T-state.
“Executing a NEXT to code takes 7 clocks, or 1.05 microseconds.”
“The best schedule produced by any hardware algorithm takes 7 clocks, whereas the statically reordered code in Figure 1.2(b) takes only 5 clocks.”
- uncountableA luck-based patience or solitaire card game with the cards laid out to represent the face of a clock.
- UK, countable, obsolete, uncountableA watch (timepiece).
“Arthur Morrison, Chance of the Game
But if the clock was a red 'un, and the opportunity undoubted; to be pinched in the Bow Road merely might well imply loss of caste in the mob, but nobody need be as”
- countable, slang, uncountableA face; the head.
- A pattern near the heel of a sock or stocking.
“But this you can't stand, so you throw up your hand,
and you find you're as cold as an icicle,
In your shirt and your socks (the black silk with gold clocks),
crossing Salisbury Plain on a bicycle”
“She'd a gown wi' girt flowers lik' hollyhocks
An zome stockèns o' gramfer's a-knit wi' clocks”
“Most decoration involved the ankle clocks, and several are shown on p.15 in the form of charts.”
- A large beetle, especially the European dung beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius).
- transitiveTo measure the duration of.
- transitiveTo measure the speed of.
“He was clocked at 155 miles per hour.”
“Dan Patch clocked a scorching 1:55.5 flat.”
- slang, transitiveTo hit (someone) heavily.
“When the boxer let down his guard, his opponent clocked him.”
- informal, transitiveTo notice; to take notice of (someone or something).
“Clock the wheels on that car!”
“It is true. Carmen is an official gold digger. In fact, she is an instructor at the school of gold digging. Hood rats have been clocking her style for years. Wanting to pull the players she pulled, an”
“Cut to the pub on a lads night out, / Man at the bar cos it was his shout, / Clocks this bird and she looks OK, / Caught him looking and she walks his way,”
- informal, transitiveTo recognize; to assess, register.
“I'd already clocked her as someone who couldn't reliably be believed when she spoke. And now this too!”
“Bo John and I twisted our heads around as Miranda braked over to the gravelly shoulder, let the Scout wheeze to a stop. She was climbing out, hurrying back to whatever had caught her eye. Bo John leer”
- informal, transitiveTo identify (someone) as having some attribute (for example, being trans or gay).
“Once my transition was complete I considered moving to London, where I felt there was less chance of being clocked and a larger support network.”
“Jaz said that the palpitations of fear he used to experience at the prospect of being publicly outed in the gurdwara dissipated after he clocked other gay Sikhs in there, even one who professed a Jat ”
“Consuella Lopez, the director of operations and housing at Casa Ruby, remembers. "The more passable your body was, the less bullying you'd get, the more chances of you getting a regular job at a regul”
- British, slangTo falsify the reading of the odometer of a vehicle.
“I don't believe that car has done only 40,000 miles. It's been clocked.”
- Australia, British, New-Zealand, slang, transitiveTo beat a video game.
“Have you clocked that game yet?”
- ambitransitiveTo expose or attack someone, typically in a targeted and insulting manner.
“Did you hear what she said about my outfit? She kind of clocked me.”
“You clocked, that guy is always running his mouth.”
“Its always a good day when I can clock someone using the (made up word) "unlessen". I just...ch...”
- transitiveTo ornament (e.g. the side of a stocking) with figured work.
- Scotland, dated, intransitiveTo make the sound of a hen; to cluck.
- Scotland, dated, intransitiveTo hatch.
Formsclocks(plural) · CLK(alternative) · clocks(present, singular, third-person) · clocking(participle, present) · clocked(participle, past) · clocked(past) · Clocks(plural)
Source: Wiktionary