Meanings
clock1
plural clocks · alternative CLK
- countableuncountableAny device or mechanism that enables time to be measured or regulated.
Radioactive decay acts as a geological clock, revealing the age of the rock.
1 more example
A sundial is a type of clock that measures time through the movement of the sun's shadow.
- countableuncountableIn particular, a mechanical or electronic device that indicates the time of day through hands or a numeric display, and sometimes also through chimes.
The clock on the mantlepiece says midnight, but the church clock says quarter past.
3 more examples
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.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto II”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLCAn 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 the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces.
1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 163In the June days of 1848 Baudelaire reports seeing revolutionaries (he might have been one of them) going through the streets of Paris with rifles, shooting all the clocks.
1995, Richard Klein, “Introduction”, in Cigarettes are sublime, Paperback edition, Durham: Duke University Press, published 1993, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 8 - countableuncountableA time clock.
I can't go off to lunch yet: I'm still on the clock.
1 more example
We let the guys use the shop's tools and equipment for their own projects as long as they're off the clock.
Synonyms: chronometer
- countableuncountablebusinessAn electrical signal that synchronizes timing among digital circuits of semiconductor chips or modules.
- countableinformaluncountablecomputingA CPU clock cycle, or T-state.
Executing a NEXT to code takes 7 clocks, or 1.05 microseconds.
1984, The Journal of Forth Application and Research, volume 2, page 831 more example
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.
1990, Joseph F. Traub, Barbara J. Grosz, Annual Review of Computer Science, page 180 - UKcountableobsoleteuncountablethieves' cantA watch (timepiece).
, 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 ashamed to be pinched anywhere for a gold watch, after all.
- attributivecountableuncountableA 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.
- UKcountableuncountableThe odometer of a motor vehicle.
This car has over 300,000 miles on the clock.
Synonyms: odometer
- uncountableA luck-based patience or solitaire card game with the cards laid out to represent the face of a clock.
Synonyms: clock patience, clock solitaire
present singular third person clocks · participle present clocking · participle past clocked · past clocked · alternative CLK
- informaltransitiveTo notice; to take notice of (someone or something).
Clock the wheels on that car!
5 more examples
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, and wishing they had the looks she had.
2005, Jr. Aaron Bryant, Cupid Is Stupid, page 19Cut 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,
2006, Lily Allen, “Knock 'Em Out”First it was only when I was with him—we would pass a pretty girl, I would notice her first, and my eyes would dart to his to see him clock her.
2021, Megan Nolan, Acts of Desperation, Random House, →ISBNHe made it to ten yards away. Still they hadn't clocked him. Five yards. He felt increasingly confident about grabbing the actual thief, even if it meant letting the other lad get away. Both were pretty scrawny kids, although the other one was quite a bit older, maybe twenty,[…]
2021 July 1, Nick Oldham, Scarred, Severn House Publishers Ltd, →ISBNI had just long enough at Lancaster to clock another plaque to a great Victorian railway engineer, Joseph Locke (1805-60).
2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Lancaster (1860)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 58 - informaltransitiveTo recognize; to assess, register.
I'd already clocked her as someone who couldn't reliably be believed when she spoke. And now this too!
1 more example
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 leered into the door mirror, clocking her flouncing, leggy strut.
2000, Phil Austin, Naugahide Days: The Lost Island Stories of Thomas Wood Briar, page 109 - informaltransitiveTo 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.
4 more examples
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 caste identity, he said – Jatness being associated with stereotypical dominant macho masculinity. He reflected that this was a major factor in his rapprochement with his[…]
2018 September 14, Nicola Frost, Tom Selwyn, Travelling towards Home: Mobilities and Homemaking, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page 23Consuella 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 regular place without somebody clocking you."
2019 September 1, Dani Nett, “For Trans Women, Silicone 'Pumping' Can Be A Blessing And A Curse”, in NPRJess was a sixty-something, short, White, bald man who could easily be "clocked" as gay.
2022 February 1, Townsand Price-Spratlen, Addiction Recovery and Resilience: Faith-based Health Services in an African American Community, State University of New York Press, →ISBNQuarantine had thrown a new wrench "do not perceive me" discourse, but trans people have arguably always had a messy relationship to being perceived. We avoid it, and yet we also juice our lives to be seen. Getting clocked feels bad, but being hot feels good.
2022 March 1, Charlie Markbreiter, “"Other Trans People Make Me Dysphoric": Trans Assimilation and Cringe”, in The New InquirySynonyms: read
- UKslangTo 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.
Synonyms: turn back (the vehicle's) clock, wind back (the vehicle's) clock
- ambitransitivechiefly African-American Vernacular and LGBTQ slangTo expose or attack someone, typically in a targeted and insulting manner.
You clocked, that guy is always running his mouth.
4 more examples
Did you hear what she said about my outfit? She kind of clocked me.
Its always a good day when I can clock someone using the (made up word) "unlessen". I just...ch...
2013 April 30, @NICKIMINAJ, Twitter (post), archived from the original on 03 Dec 2025not ariana getting her ass clocked on the set of victorious
2020 November 11, @BhadDhad, Twitter (post), archived from the original on 03 Dec 2025she just clocked all these mediocre men
2025 September 23, @buffys, X (post), archived from the original on 03 Dec 2025
clock2
plural clocks
- A pattern near the heel of a sock or stocking.
his stockings with silver clocks were ravished from him
c. 1720, Jonathan Swift, An Essay on Modern Education4 more examples
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
1882, W.S. Gilbert, “When you're lying awake”, in Iolanthe, or The Peer and the PeriShe'd a gown wi' girt flowers lik' hollyhocks An zome stockèns o' gramfer's a-knit wi' clocks
1894, William Barnes, “Grammer's Shoes”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect, page 110Most decoration involved the ankle clocks, and several are shown on p.15 in the form of charts.
2004, Sheila McGregor, Traditional Scandinavian Knitting, Courier Dover, →ISBN, page 60Clocks: These are ornamental designs embroidered or woven on to the ankles of stockings.
2006, J. Munslow, Kathryn McKelvey, Fashion Source Book, →ISBN, page 231
present singular third person clocks · participle present clocking · participle past clocked · past clocked
- transitiveTo ornament (e.g. the side of a stocking) with figured work.
clock3
plural clocks
- A large beetle, especially the European dung beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius).
clock4
present singular third person clocks · participle present clocking · participle past clocked · past clocked
Clock5
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA time clock.
nounThe odometer of a motor vehicle.
nounA luck-based patience or solitaire card game with the cards laid out to represent the face of a clock.
verbTo measure the duration of.
verbTo identify (someone) as having some attribute (for example, being trans or gay).
verbTo falsify the reading of the odometer of a vehicle.
More synonyms by meaning
verbmeasure the time or duration of an event or action or the person who performs an action in a certain period of time
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
clock · noun, verb
- Proto-Celtic*klokkosder.?
- Early Medieval Latinclocca
- Old Northern Frenchcloque
- Old Dutch*klokka
- Middle Dutchclocke
- Middle Englishclokke
- Englishclock
First 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”), Asturian llueca (“cowbell”), Galician and Portuguese choca (“cowbell”), Doublet of cloak and cloche. "Seed head of a dandelion" sense from a children's game in which one supposedly tells the time by counting the number of puffs taken to blow away all the seeds, each puff representing one hour of the day.
More words from Middle English, Middle Dutch, Old Dutch
Full word history & related roots →clock · noun, verb
Uncertain; designs may have originally been bell-shaped and thus related to Etymology 1, above.
Full word history & related roots →clock · verb
- Old Englishcloccian
- Middle Englishclokken
- Englishclock
From Middle English clokken, from Old English cloccian, ultimately imitative; compare Dutch klokken, English cluck.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans uurwerk
- uurwerkinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Ancient Greek ὡρολόγιον, ὠράριθμον
- ὡρολόγιον (hōrológion)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- ὠράριθμον (ōrárithmon)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Arabic سَاعَة, ساعة
- سَاعَة (sāʕa)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- ساعة (sāʕa)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- مݣانة (magāna)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Basque erloju, ordulari
- erlojuinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- ordulariinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Bengali ঘড়ি
- ঘড়ি (ghoṛi)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Bulgarian часо́вник, одоме́тър
- часо́вник (časóvnik)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- одоме́тър (odométăr)odometer
- измервам време (izmervam vreme)measure the duration of
- измервам скорост (izmervam skorost)measure the speed of
- забелязвам (zabeljazvam)slang: take notice of
- багет (baget)pattern near heel of a sock or stocking
Catalan rellotge, rellotge
- rellotgeinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- rellotgeelectrical signal
- comptaquilòmetresodometer
- cronometrarmeasure the duration of
- mesurar la velocitat demeasure the speed of
Chinese җун, 時鐘 /时钟
- җун (žun)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- 時鐘 /时钟 (sî-cheng)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- 鐘 /钟 (cheng)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Chinese Cantonese 鐘 /钟, 時鐘 /时钟
- 鐘 /钟 (zung¹)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- 時鐘 /时钟 (si⁴ zung¹)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- 鐘錶 /钟表 (zung¹ biu¹)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Chinese Mandarin 鐘 /钟, 時鐘 /时钟
- 鐘 /钟 (zhōng)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- 時鐘 /时钟 (shízhōng)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- 鐘錶 /钟表 (zhōngbiǎo)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Czech hodiny
- hodinyinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Danish ur
- urinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Dutch klok, teller
- klokinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- tellerodometer
- kilometertellerodometer
- klokkenmeasure the duration of
Esperanto horloĝo
- horloĝoinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Estonian kell
- kellinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Finnish kello, mittari
- kelloinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- mittariodometer
- ottaa aikaameasure the duration of
- kellottaameasure the duration of
- koristepattern near heel of a sock or stocking
French horloge, indicateur de vitesse
- horlogeinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- indicateur de vitesseodometer
- compteur de vitesseodometer
German Uhr, Ühra
- Uhrinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- Ührainstrument to measure or keep track of time
- Taktsignalelectrical signal
- Tachoodometer
- Tachometerodometer
Greek ρολόι, ωρολόγιο
- ρολόι (rolói)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- ωρολόγιο (orológio)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Hawaiian uaki
- uakiinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Hebrew שָׁעוֹן
- שָׁעוֹן (sha'ón)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Hindi घड़ी
- घड़ी (ghaṛī)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Hungarian óra, kilométeróra
- órainstrument to measure or keep track of time
- kilométeróraodometer
- kilométer-számlálóodometer
Icelandic klukka, úr
- klukkainstrument to measure or keep track of time
- úrinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Indonesian jam, lonceng
- jaminstrument to measure or keep track of time
- loncenginstrument to measure or keep track of time
Iranian Persian ساعَت
- ساعَت (sâ'at)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Irish clog
- cloginstrument to measure or keep track of time
Italian orologio, contachilometri
- orologioinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- contachilometriodometer
- tachimetroodometer
- odometroodometer
- cronometraremeasure the duration of
- baghettapattern near heel of a sock or stocking
Japanese 時計, クロック
- 時計 (tokei)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- クロック (kurokku)electrical signal
- 走行距離計 (sōkōkyorikei)odometer
- 計測する (keisokusuru)measure the duration of
- 記録する (kirokusuru)measure the duration of
- 計測する (keisokusuru)measure the speed of
- 測定する (sokuteisuru)measure the speed of
Korean 시계, 클럭
- 시계 (sigye)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- 클럭 (keulleok)electrical signal
Latin horologium, hōrārium
- horologiuminstrument to measure or keep track of time
- hōrāriuminstrument to measure or keep track of time
Latvian pulkstenis, laikrādis
- pulkstenisinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- laikrādisinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Lithuanian lai̇̃krodis
- lai̇̃krodisinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Malay jam
- jaminstrument to measure or keep track of time
Māori karaka
- karakainstrument to measure or keep track of time
Norwegian ta tiden på
- ta tiden påmeasure the duration of
Norwegian Bokmål klokke
- klokkeinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Persian سَاعَت
- سَاعَت (sā'at)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Polish zegar
- zegarinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Portuguese relógio, relógio
- relógioinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- relógioelectrical signal
- velocímetroodometer
- cronometrarmeasure the duration of
- medir a velocidade demeasure the speed of
- notarslang: take notice of
Punjabi ਘੜੀ, کعڑی
- ਘੜੀ (ghaṛī)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- کعڑی (kʻṛī)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Romanian ceas, tact
- ceasinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- tactelectrical signal
- impulselectrical signal
- contor de parcursodometer
Russian часы́
- часы́ (časý)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Scottish Gaelic uaireadair, gleoc
- uaireadairinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- gleocinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Slovak hodiny, hodinový impulz
- hodinyinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- hodinový impulzelectrical signal
- tachometerodometer
Spanish reloj, reloj
- relojinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- relojelectrical signal
- cuentakilómetrosodometer
- cronometrarmeasure the duration of
- medir la velocidad demeasure the speed of
- golpearslang: hit (someone)
Swahili saa
- saainstrument to measure or keep track of time
Swedish klocka, ur
- klockainstrument to measure or keep track of time
- urinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Tagalog orasan, relo
- orasaninstrument to measure or keep track of time
- reloinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- taknaaninstrument to measure or keep track of time
Tamil கடிகாரம், கடிகை
- கடிகாரம் (kaṭikāram)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- கடிகை (kaṭikai)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Thai นาฬิกา, โมง
- นาฬิกา (naa-lí-gaa)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- โมง (moong)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Turkish saat
- saatinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Ukrainian годи́нник, такт
- годи́нник (hodýnnyk)instrument to measure or keep track of time
- такт (takt)electrical signal
Urdu گَھڑی
- گَھڑی (ghaṛī)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Vietnamese đồng hồ
- đồng hồinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Welsh cloc
- clocinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Yiddish זייגער
- זייגער (zeyger)instrument to measure or keep track of time
Zulu iwashi, isikhathi
- iwashiinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- isikhathiinstrument to measure or keep track of time
- ikilogoinstrument to measure or keep track of time
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with clock
Cite this entry
clock. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clock
“clock.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clock. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “clock,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clock.
Source: clock on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.