Link Centre Dictionary

clock

UK/klɒk/ US/klɑk/ common informal slang uk
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

a timepiece that shows the time of day

verb

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”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • 12-hour clock
  • 24-hour clock
  • 400-day clock
  • a broken clock is right twice a day
  • Act of Parliament clock
  • against the clock
  • alarm clock
  • clock in
  • clock off
  • clock on
  • clock onto
  • clock out

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.