▪ I. clock, n.1
Forms: (1 clucge), 4–5 clok, clokke, clocke, 6 klocke, 6– clock.
[OE. clucge (or cluccge) is found only once, and has no historical connexion with the extant word which goes back app. only to the 13–14th c. ME. clok(ke, clocke, was either a. MDu. clocke (mod.Du. klok ‘bell, clock’), or a. ONF. cloke, cloque = Central Fr. cloche ‘bell’. The Du. is cognate with OFris. klocka, klocke, EFris. klokke, klok, MLG. klocke, LG. klokke, klokk, klok, OHG. glocka, klocka, glogga, MHG. glocke, klocke, glogge, Ger. glocke ‘bell’, ON. klocka, later klukka ‘bell’, Norw. klokka, klukka, Sw. klocka, Da. klokke ‘bell, clock’. The French cloque, cloche, with Pr. cloca, clocha, Piedm. cioca, descends directly from late L. cloc(c)a (8th c.). In all the prec., as in OE. clucge, the word is fem.; but in Celtic, OIr. cloc (genit. cluic:—*cloci), Irish clog, Gael. clag (genit. and pl. cluig), Corn. cloch, Bret. kloc'h, ‘bell’, are masc.; only Welsh cloch is fem., and its pl. clych points perh. to an earlier masc.
Known since about 8th c. in Merovingian L., in Celtic, and in Teutonic; early diffusion app. connected with that of Christianity in western and northern Europe; not found in the southern Romanic langs. where campana is the word for ‘bell’. Locality of origin undetermined: some refer it, on historical considerations, to Celtic; some think it possibly connected with OHG. cloccôn, chlocchôn, MHG. klocken ‘to strike, knock’; but the variant forms in OHG. point rather to its being foreign. Wherever it actually arose, it was prob. echoic, imitating the rattling made by the early handbells of sheet-iron and quadrilateral shape, rather than the ringing of the cast circular bell of later date. The relation of the rare OE. cluc(c)ge to the other forms, which agree generally with the types klok, klokka, is obscure.
For the original and general sense of this word in the other langs., English had the word bell in regular use; it is probable, therefore, that clock was introduced either with striking clocks, or at least with bells on which the hours were mechanically struck; it was prob. never prevalent in ME. in the mere sense ‘bell’.]
† 1. A bell (the sense of OE. clucge; in ME. prob. only as a retention of the Fr. use). Later, the gong of a striking watch. Obs.
| [c 890 K. ælfred Bæda iv. xxiii., Hleoðor heora clucgan (v.r. cluccgan).] 1483 Caxton Gold. L. 281/4 The clockes of Saynt Steuen..had a merueylous swetenes in theyr sowne. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. 193 And perchance hears the Clock and Alarum strike in it [a Watch]. [c 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5307/3 A Gold striking Pendulum Clock Watch.] |
2. a. An instrument for the measurement of time; properly, one in which the hours, and sometimes lesser divisions, are sounded by strokes of a hammer on a bell or similar resonant body; but many clocks now do not strike. The mechanism consists of a train of wheels set in motion by weights or a spring, actuating and regulated by a pendulum or balance-wheel, and requiring to be periodically wound up; the passage of hours, minutes, etc., is indicated by ‘hands’ or pointers, on a ‘face’ or dial-plate.
(The precise meaning in the earliest
quots. is not certain.)
| 1371 Abbrev. Rotul. Origin. II. 314 Pro quadam campana pro horis diei et noctis per ipsam perpetuo designanda, clok vulgariter nuncupata, in eadem turri ponenda et sustentanda. 1371 in J. Britton Cathedrals, York 80 Till itte be hegh none smytyn by þe clocke. 1379 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 103 In expens. super le Clok, xxiiij petr. [plumbi]. c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 34 Sikerer was his crowyng..Than is a clok, or an abbay orologge. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (1835) 20 Evene as the clok sevene had smet She entryd. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xx. 118 Neuere saue in late daies was eny clok telling the houris..bi peise and bi stroke. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. ii. 42 Their Armes are set, like Clocks, still to strike on. a 1640 W. Fenner Christ's Alarm (1650) 286 When thou usest to stirre up Conscience every day, wind it up as a man does his Clock. 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 629 Like damag'd clocks, whose hand and bell dissent. a 1850 Longfellow Old Clock on Stairs vii, And in the hush that followed the prayer, Was heard the old clock on the stair,—For ever—never! Never—for ever! |
b. = dial n.1 6 a;
spec. a taximeter, speedometer, or milometer.
colloq.| 1930 ‘A. Armstrong’ Taxi iv. 39 Unscrupulous young men..who didn't mind paying what was already on the clock and a bribe besides. 1934 [see clock v.1 1 b]. 1939 H. Hodge Cab, Sir? 167 He may refuse to pay you the original fare later because it isn't recorded on the clock-face. Ibid. 217 Then comes the ‘clock’, the taximeter. 1942 ‘B. J. Ellan’ Spitfire! v. 22, I..let the aircraft plummet down..until the clock showed 400 m.p.h. 1967 K. Giles Death in Diamonds vii. 128 There were two hundred and seven miles on the clock. 1968 ‘B. Mather’ Springers vii. 67 She didn't have the panel lights on, so I couldn't see the clock, but she must have been needling over a hundred in places. 1970 Commercial Motor 25 Sept. 64/2 Neither vehicle had much mileage on the clock. |
c. In an electronic computer (see
quots.). Also
attrib. and
Comb.| 1947 A. W. Burks et al. in Von Neumann's Wks. (1963) V. 68 There are many advantages in deriving these pulses from a central source, called the clock. The timing may then be done either by means of counters counting clock pulses or by means of electrical delay lines. 1951 Proc. Inst. Radio Engin. XXXIX. 274/2 Master clock, the primary source of timing signals. Ibid. 1052/1 These pulses, designated ‘clock pulses’, represent the fundamental time marks of the machine. Ibid. 1052/2 (caption) Clock-pulse generator. 1953 A. D. & K. H. V. Booth Autom. Digital Calculators xii. 120 It is assumed that two tracks of the drum D are devoted to pre-recording ‘clock’ markers. 1953 Electr. Engineering LXXII. 162/1 The Timer contains the master pulse generator which emits clock pulses every micro-second. 1964 F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers v. 84 The basis of the control system is a clock... The clock can be constructed from an electronic oscillator which can emit a stream of pulses at a predetermined rate and interval. |
3. (The hour of the day is expressed by a cardinal numeral, followed by a phrase which was originally
a. of the clock, now only retained in formal phraseology; shortened subsequently to
† b. of clock,
† c. a clock (see
a prep.2),
d. o'clock, the current modern form; rarer
obs. variants were
† e. at the clock, and
clock simply.)
| a. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. Prol. 5 Ten of the clokke it was tho as I gesse. 1463 Bury Wills (Camd. Soc.) 17 At vij of y⊇ clokke. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxxiii. 148 Bytwene noone and thre of the clocke. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. ii. (1843) 53/2 The House met allways at eight of the Clock. 1739 Chesterfield Lett. I. xxv. 92 In prose, you would say..it is twelve of the clock at noon. 1884 Gladstone in Parlt. 26 Feb. 2/5 That the Speaker..be presented to-morrow at two of the clock in the House of Lords. |
| b. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. 16 From iiij of clokke in the mornynge. 1647 Lilly Chr. Astrol. iii. 31 Eleven of clock at night. |
| c. 1480 Plumpton Corr. 40 Uppon Munday by viij a clocke. 1584 R. Scot Disc. Witchcr. xii. xvii. 213 So manie strokes as the holder thinketh it a clocke. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 185 Asking a boy what it was a clocke. 1747 T. Chalkley Wks. (1766) 190 About one or two a Clock. |
| d. c 1720 Prior Alma iii. (R.), 'Tis the stomach's solid stroke, That tells this being, what's o'clock. 1829 Southey Roprecht 11, From noon Till ten o'clock. 1848 Thackeray Snobs xlviii, Five-o'clock-in-the-morning men. |
| e. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. (1845) 75 Make you redy, At ix. at the clocke. 1634 Brereton Trav. (1884) 1 We..took water about three clock in afternoon. 1712 Hearne Collect. (Oxf. H.S.) III. 381 This day at 2 Clock in the Afternoon. |
† f. Hence, the hour as struck by the clock.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. iv. 44 To weepe 'twixt clock and clock. 1768 Bristol Jrnl. in Harper's Mag. July (1883) 232/1 Aboute the time of the tollynge the tenth clock. |
4. Phrases.
like a clock: with steady regularity (
cf. clockwork).
to lie at nine o'clock (see
quot.).
to tell the clock: to count the hour, give or record the time.
to know (find) what o'clock it is: to know (discover) the real state of things.
when one's clock strikes: when one's hour comes.
to put (set, turn) the clock back,
to put (set, turn) back the clock, to move the hands of a clock back to an earlier position;
fig., to go back to a past age or earlier state of affairs; to take a retrograde step;
(all) round the clock,
the clock round (in
U.S. also
clock around), for 24 (
occas. 12) hours without intermission; all day and night; ceaselessly; also
attrib. phr. round-the-clock;
against the clock, against time (see
time n. 39).
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 81 She..opened the locke, And lookt in the bag, What it was a clocke. 1565 J. Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 597 Emperours..sate by the Bishops and held their peace, and told the clocke. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 289 They'l tell the clocke to any businesse that We say befits the houre. 1635, [see set v.1 141 b]. a 1700 Dryden (J.), I told the clocks, and watch'd the wasting light. a 1745 [see put v.1 39 c]. 1797 W. G. Maton Observ. W. Counties II. 129 The veins..run in a direction pretty nearly from south-east to north-west, or, to use the terms of the miners themselves, lie at nine o'clock. 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz 451 (Hoppe) Our governor's wide awake..He knows what's o'clock. 1839–52 [see round prep. 1 c]. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. i. 2 He..manages my whole farm like a clock. 1859 G. A. Sala (title) Twice round the clock, or the hours of the day and night in London. 1862 Lowell Biglow P. 2nd Ser. 42 'T would put the clock back all o' fifty years, Ef they should fall together by the ears. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic 94 You've learnt your lesson, found out what's o'clock. 1887 Rider Haggard K. Solomon's Mines 10, I hope it won't be brought up against me when my clock strikes. 1892, [see set v.1 141 b]. 1895 Kipling Day's Work (1898) 341 Georgie was used to eat all round the clock. 1896 G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) II. 239 Mr Kinghorne, though seemingly more bewildered than encouraged by the setting back of the clock, took his turn as ‘the sovereign duke of Barcelona’. 1898 Ibid. III. 309, I cannot pretend to think that Mr Pinero, in reverting to that period, has really had to turn back the clock as far as his own sympathies and ideals are concerned. 1906 A. C. Benson Upton Lett. (ed. 2) 61 The attempt to put back the clock, and to try and restore things as they were. 1910 J. Buchan Prester John xvii. 276 What makes you try to put the clock back? You want to wipe out the civilization of a thousand years, and turn us all into savages. 1935 N. L. McClung Clearing in West xl. 343 When I went home after the examinations, I slept the clock around for the first two weeks. 1940 Times 3 Feb. 8/4 The time-limit in chess. Playing against the clock. 1940 H. G. Wells Babes in Darkling Wood 6 Conrad was understood to be in the van of progress; Robert Louis Stevenson had ‘put the clock back’. 1943 Jane's All World's Aircraft 1942 p. v/2 The assault will perhaps be a ‘round-the-clock’ affair. 1944 R. C. K. Ensor Miniat. Hist. War iv. 53 A scheme of bombing Germany ‘round the clock’, i.e. for a succession of nights and days. 1944 J. S. Huxley Living in Revol. xv. 188 Attempts at turning the clock back in educational practice. 1949 C. P. Snow Time of Hope i. i. 14 Boys of your age need to sleep the clock round. 1953 R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 178 He'd slept pretty well the clock round. 1958 ‘Ann Bridge’ Portuguese Escape viii. 138 They must have been keeping a round-the-clock watch on the Monsignor's house. 1958 Listener 4 Dec. 936/2 A thousand men working in three shifts round the clock removed the old mill and installed the new one in twelve and a half days. 1959 Observer 21 June 17/7 If Arnold Bennett were alive to-day he would be writing family serials for television all round the clock. 1960 Times Rev. Industry Jan. 28/3 Often the work is conducted against the clock. 1962 V. Grissom in Into Orbit 119 We were working all around the clock during this period, running tests night and day in order to keep up with the schedule. |
5. a. transf. and
fig.; usually with qualifying addition or context.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay vii. 87 The same workmaister which hath set up the Clocke of y⊇ hart. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. ii. 39 His honour, Clocke to itselfe, knew the true minute when Exception bid him speake. 1791 Cowper Yardley Oak 46 By thee I might correct, erroneous oft, The clock of history. 1836 Emerson Nature, Beauty Wks. (Bohn) II. 146 The succession of native plants..makes the silent clock by which time tells the summer hours. 1866 B. Taylor Poems, Autumn. Vesp. 351 The snug warm cricket lets his clock run down. |
b. slang. The human face. (
Cf. dial n.1 6 c.)
| 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 87 Clock,..la tête, le ciboulot. 1931 G. Irwin Amer. Tramp & Underworld Slang 52. 1932 A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms 57 He sat there with a grin all over his clock. 1961 J. I. M. Stewart Man who won Pools xiii. 135 His clock was still the affable Brigadier's, but you felt now that if you passed a sponge over it there'd be something quite different underneath. |
c. slang. A punch (on the face).
| 1959 N.Z. Listener 24 July 6/3 He might have a clock at him or a kick at him. 1961 J. Maclaren-Ross Doomsday Book i. vii. 74 It was my turn to administer the anaesthetic—by a final clock in the jaw. |
6. A watch.
Obs. except in modern slang.
| 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 110 If it agre with the some which your clock sheweth. 1670 Walton Life Donne 63 That striking Clock which he had long worn in his pocket. 1884 Pall Mall G. 29 Dec. 4/1 The rich harvest of clocks and slangs (watches and chains)..gathered at South Kensington station. |
† 7. Applied to a sun-dial.
Obs. rare.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. (1634) Table Script. Quot., The lines by the which it went downe into the clocke of Ahaz [cf. 2 Kings xx. 11, where Wyclif has ‘orloge’, Coverdale ‘dyall’]. |
8. A trivial name for the pappus of the dandelion or similar composite flower. [So called from the child's play of blowing away the feathered seeds to find ‘what o'clock it is’.]
| 1847 Halliwell, Clock, the downy head of the dandelion in seed. 1884 J. E. Taylor Sagac. & Morality Plants 110 The pappus or ‘clock’ best known in the Dandelion. |
† 9. The core of an apple.
Obs. rare.
[
Cf. Du. klokhuis, E.
Fris. belhüske, bell-house, belfry, also seed-vessel, core of apple, etc. ‘partly from resemblance in form, but
prob. more from the rattling of the loose seeds or pips’ (Franck). The original of the
quot. is ‘Low Dutch’. But see also
colk.]
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 116/1 Take a good apple..peele him, and cut out the clockes therof. |
10. Comb., chiefly
attrib., as
clock-alarm,
clock-bell,
clock-dial,
clock-hand,
clock-rate,
clock-trade,
clock-wheel;
clock-faced adj.| 1453 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 161 Operanti ibidem super le Clokbell. 1821 Edgeworth Mem. I. 39 The engine for cutting teeth in clock-wheels. 1864 A. M{supc}Kay Hist. Kilmarnock (ed. 3) 284 Above the inscription are three clock-dials. 1871 B. Stewart Heat §79 Regularity in their clock-rates. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 17 Oct. 5/2 Two knights, one of clock-countenance... I have my doubts about the clock-faced gentlemen. 1923 E. Sitwell Bucolic Comedies 41 The clock-faced sun and moon. |
11. Special comb.:
clock-beam (
nonce-wd.), a pendulum;
clock-bird Austral., the laughing jackass, kookaburra;
clock-calm (
Naut.), ‘when not a breath of wind ruffles the water’ (
Adm. Smyth); also
fig. and
attrib.;
clock-case, the framework enclosing a clock's works;
clock-face, the dial-plate of a clock,
techn. the time shown by it;
clock-finger, the hand of a clock;
clock-golf, a game in which twelve numbers are arranged on the ground in a circle in imitation of the dial of a clock, and the players putt the ball from each of these numbers in turn into a hole placed somewhere within the circle;
clock-head, the upper part of a
clock-case;
clock hour (
orig. dial.), a whole hour; a full sixty minutes; also, a specific period of sixty minutes;
clock-jack, a figure on a clock tower, which gives warning, chimes, or tells the hour by striking a bell (
cf. Jack n.1 6,
quarter-jack 1);
clock-keeper, one who attends to and regulates a clock;
clock-like a., like clock-work, regular, monotonous;
clock-line, the cord suspending the weights in a clock;
clock-maker, one who makes and repairs clocks;
clock-master = clock-keeper;
clock-pillar, one of the posts holding the plates of the clock-work in position;
clock-quarters, the bells in a large clock on which the quarter-hours are struck or chimed;
clock radio, a combined bedside radio and alarm clock, which can be set so that the radio comes on automatically instead of the alarm;
clock-setter = clock-keeper;
clock-smith = clock-maker;
clock-spring (see
quot. a 1877);
clock-stars (see
quot.);
clock-story, the part of a clock-tower in which the clock is placed;
clock-time, time as shown or measured by a clock or clocks;
clock-tower, one built for the display of a large clock;
clock-train, the mechanism of the going part of a clock;
clock-watch (see
quot.); also as
v. intr., to work over-anxiously to time;
clock-watcher, one who takes care not to exceed minimum working hours; so (as a back-formation)
clock-watching vbl. n. and ppl. a.;
clock-weight, a weight used instead of a spring to give impulse to the movement of a clock;
clock-wise adv., in the way of a clock, in the direction in which its hands move; also
attrib. or as adj. See also
clock-house, -work.
| 1862 Thornbury Turner II. 16 A sustained dull *clock-beam cadence imitative of Pope. |
| 1880 T. W. Nutt Palace of Industry 15 Where *clock-bird laughed and sweet wild flowers throve. |
| 1777 J. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 267 There is a *clock calm at this time in the political and military hemispheres. 1924 R. Clements Gipsy of Horn iii. 54 The breeze died away and we were left becalmed—the centre of a clock calm. 1932 Kipling Limits & Renewals 235 A girl's voice came across the clock-calm harbour-face. |
| 1761 Maskelyne Clock in Phil. Trans. LII. 437 The pendulum..was secured to the *clock-case. |
| 1879 Newcomb & Holden Astron. 72 The time as shown by the clock (technically ‘the *clock-face’). |
| 1906 *Clock-golf [see putting-hole (putting vbl. n.2 1 b)]. 1915 Wodehouse Something Fresh vii, [They] console themselves for the absence of a links..with the exhilarating pastime of clock-golf. 1940 ‘N. Shute’ Old Captivity 17 The centre of the lawn was laid out for clock golf, the figures beautifully white. |
| 1872 J. Hartley Clock Alm. Sept. (E.D.D.), They've been wide wakken a *clock haar before ther usual time. 1962 Rep. Comm. Broadc. 1960. xix. 250 Greater flexibility of programming hours..is afforded by prescribing a total of hours of broadcasting rather than clock-hours. Ibid. 313/2 Rules governing maximum amount of spot advertising in any clock hour. |
| 1926 Glasgow Herald 23 July 6 The fantastic little *clock-jacks of Norwich Cathedral. |
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 447 Or that the course of y⊇ Sonne should be apportioned after the will of John *clockekeeper. |
| 1741–70 Miss Talbot Lett. Miss Carter (1808) 26 If you love that same sort of regular *clock-like life. |
| 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 230 A *Clock-line, having a counterpoise at the other end. 1723 Lond. Gaz. No. 6188/8 John Chevins..Clock-line Weaver. |
| 1453 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 101 Joh. Ripley de Ebor. *Clokmaker. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 15/2 Queen Elizabeths Clock-maker bore a Sphere for his Crest. 1837 Haliburton (Sam Slick) title, The Clockmaker. |
| 1626 Massinger Rom. Actor v. ii, Cæsar. Is't past five? Parthenius. Past six, upon my knowledge; and in justice, Your *clock-master should die. |
| 1801 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes to Ins & Outs Wks. 1812 IV. 377 Thus Paul's four small *Clock-quarters Instruct their mighty Master when to sound. |
| 1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed ix. 65 My *clock-radio blasted me wide awake. 1986 New Yorker 20 Jan. 34/1 The clock radio by my bed..had a digital readout and as many buttons as a Japanese stereo set. |
| 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 324 Old Time the *clocke setter, y{supt} bald sexton Time. |
| 1556 Stanford Churchw. Acc. in Antiquary (1888) Mar. 120 To a *klocke smythe for makyng & mendyng. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. I. 137 Turning to the clocksmith, he inquired, etc. |
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Clock-spring, a coiled steel spring in the going-barrel or the striking-barrel of a clock which impels the train or strikes the hours, as the case may be. |
| 1867–77 G. Chambers Astron. 914 *Clock-stars, certain stars usually employed for the regulation of clocks in an observatory, by reason of the fact that their positions have been very accurately determined. |
| 1867 A. Barry Sir C. Barry vii. 255 The whole *clock-story was made to project beyond the body of the tower. |
| 1907 Daily Chron. 18 Sept. 3/6 The standard would become an ‘international *clock time’ common to the whole of Mid and Western Europe. 1933 J. Baillie Life Everlasting (1934) vii. 215 Conceptual or clock time..is but a convenient mathematical abstraction and is very different from the time of actual human experience. a 1956 W. de la Mare Compl. Poems (1969) 713 Widen your calls, let TIM decant her spells—She'll give you at least true clock-time, if nought else. |
| 1850 Denison Clock & Watch-m, p. v, Common *clock train. 1868 Chambers's Encycl. X. 82/1 There is one more wheel and pinion in the watch-train than in the clock-train. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 19/2 [A clock] must vary with the force of the clock train, due to different states of the oil. |
| 1880 Times (Weekly ed.) 25 June 7/2 Mr. Bradlaugh was removed, under the care of Inspector Denning, to the rooms near the *Clock Tower [i.e. that of the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, used as a place of confinement for offenders against the privileges of Parliament]. Ibid. If he is kept in the Clock Tower for any length of time. |
| 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1804/4 Lost on the fourth Instant a Gold *Clock-Watch. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 62 [A] Clock Watch..[is] a watch that strikes the hours in passing, as distinguished from a repeater which strikes the hours at any time on putting special mechanism in motion. |
| 1942 M. Dickens One Pair of Feet iv. 42 The day seemed endless, because I was *clock-watching all the time. 1944 H. G. Wells '42 to '44 ii. 38 Clock-watching is a common failing of human beings at work. 1945 S. Lewis Cass Timberlane 76 All you overimaginative men, who try to combine fancifulness with being clock-watching executives. |
| 1911 F. Swinnerton Casement ii. 66 His office-companions and his employers..were accustomed only to ‘*clock-watchers’ (a name given to the excessively punctual in leaving the office). 1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise viii. 129 Mr. Tallboy had left promptly at 5.30. Mr. Copley had seen him go. Clock-watchers, the whole lot of them. |
| 1899 K. Grahame Dream Days 90 My heart sank lower and lower, descending relentlessly like a *clock-weight into my boot soles. |
| 1888 R. Abercromby in Times 11 Sept. 10/1 The general sense of the [wind's] rotation is counter-clockwise in the northern, *clock-wise in the southern hemisphere. 1898, 1914 Clockwise [see anti-clockwise a. and adv.]. 1957 A. MacNab Bulls of Iberia xv. 226 Antonio makes No. 2 picador return to his station now, not crossing the other one and going clockwise in muddled fashion, but riding all the way round, anti-clockwise. |
▪ II. clock, n.2 (
klɒk)
Forms: 6–7
clocke, (7
cloake), 7–
clock.
[One of the conjectures offered is that the pattern consisted of bell-shaped ornaments, but evidence is wanting.] 1. An ornamental pattern in silk thread worked on the side of a stocking.
(From
clocked, it appears that it was formerly worn on other garments.)
| 1530 Palsgr. 206/1 Clocke of a hose [no French given]. 1547 Salesbury Welsh Dict., Kwyrk-hosan, a clocke. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abuses (1879) 57 Nether-stocks..knit with open seam down the leg, with quirks and clocks about the ancles. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. i. i. 46 Silke stockins, with blacke silke Grogran cloakes. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 3 ¶5 To knit all the Actions of the Pretender..in the Clock of a Stocking. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. (1865) II. v. vii. 123 Red silk stockings, with probably blue clocks to them. |
| attrib. 1728 Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. iv. i, Nothing but Toys and Trinkets, and Fans, and Clock-Stockings. |
2. (See
quot.) [Perh. not the same word.]
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury III. 15/2 Of a band [i.e. a collar]..the Clocks [are] the laying in of the cloth to make it round; the Plaites. |
▪ III. clock, n.3 (
klɒk)
[Origin unknown. In the dialects in which it is used, it is not now associated in any way with clock n.1] A name for any kind of beetle;
esp. the Common Dor or Shardborne Beetle (
Geotrupes stercorarius). Sometimes with defining words, as
clock-bee (
Sc.), a flying beetle;
clock-a-clay,
clock-leddy, the lady-bird; buzzard-clock,
q.v. Chiefly northern: found in the dialect glossaries as far south as Cheshire and
Lincolnsh.; but not in those of
Shropsh.,
Leicestersh., or East Anglia.
| a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. iv, Scho bad gae chat him, Scho compt him not twa clokkis. 1570 Levins Manip. 158 A clocke, flee, scarabejus. 1584 T. Hudson Judith in Sylvester Du Bartas (1621) 702 Dimd the Ayre with..flies, grashopers, hornets, clegs and clocks. 1620 Markham Farew. Husb. ii. xvii. (1668) 77 Dores or great black Clocks are vehement destroyers of all kinds of Corn. 1647 H. More Song of Soul i. i. xli, The black-arm'd Clock, the Gnat, the butterflie. 1691 Ray N.C. Words 14 Clock, a Beetle..This is a general word in this sense, all England over. 1738 Medical Ess. & Observ. (ed. 2) IV. 368 Great Swarms of Insects of the Clock-kind that come in Summer. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 199 Lady-cow, Call'd, when I mix'd with children, ‘clock-a-clay’. 1823 Galt Spaewife II. 7 (Jam.) A clok-leddy in her scarlet cardinal. 1868 Wood Homes without H. viii. 155 The common Dor Beetle..sometimes called the Watchman or Clock. |
▪ IV. clock, n.4 [f. clock v.2] = cluck of a hen.
| c 1450 MS. Cott. Faust. B vi. f. 92 b (Halliw.) Leef henne wen ho leith Looth wen ho clok seith. |
▪ V. clock, v.1 (
klɒk)
[f. clock n.1] 1. a. trans. To time by the clock.
| 1883 Standard 31 Mar. 3/5 He..was ‘clocked’ to do it in some of the shortest times. 1888 Athenæum 29 Sept. 412/3 That ‘this race was run in 1 minute 4 seconds and a half’..In ‘Baily's Racing Register’..nothing at all is said about this extraordinary ‘clocking’. |
b. colloq. To accomplish or attain (a certain time or speed) in a race; to register (a time, distance, etc.) on a clock or
dial. Also with
up.
| 1892 Field 14 May 735/3 He ran splendidly, and ‘clocked’ 2 min 2 sec all the way. 1934 Neuphilologische Mitteilungen XXXV. 131 Clock ‘speedometer’ (also verb as in she's clocking sixty). 1948 Daily Tel. 17 May 3/6 Miss M. Gardner, who clocked 11·6 sec for the 80-metres hurdles. 1959 H. Hobson Mission House Murder xii. 81 It's quite a trip—I clocked up a hundred and fifteen. 1960 Economist 30 Apr. 457/3 Bischofberger A. G. of Zurich have three Austin trucks... Recently one of them clocked 150,000 miles in a single year. |
c. With
in,
on (
off,
out): (
a) to register one's arrival at (or departure from) work by means of a mechanical device combined with a clock; also
refl.; (
b)
transf. to register one's arrival (or departure); to start (or stop) work; to enter or leave. Hence
clocking-in, etc. (also
attrib.).
| 1914 Auto-motor Jrnl. 593/1 At 12 o'clock practically every car had ‘clocked in’ and was sealed. 1924 H. H. Emsley Factory Costing 5 The ‘job cards’, on which the workers enter their time and particulars of the work they are engaged upon, depend upon the method in use for ‘clocking on’. 1924 Glasgow Herald 14 Aug. 5 That any men could resume work provided they would clock out in accordance with the system which had been in operation since the works started. Ibid. 18 Aug. 9 An allowance of two minutes for ‘clocking off’. 1926 Spectator 27 Feb. 359/2 He clocks himself in on an automatic timekeeper. Ibid. 360/1 He clocks off again and proceeds home. 1927 A. Bennett Woman who stole Everything 216 Both brother and sister had had to ‘clock in’ of a morning and ‘clock out’ of an evening for years. 1928 Daily Tel. 24 July 15/2 He..described the ‘clocking-in’ apparatus as an ‘infernal machine, insulting to the integrity, honour, and dignity of the profession’. 1935 Wodehouse Luck of Bodkins xxii. 284 As soon as I've clocked in at my hotel. 1955 Times 11 Aug. 7/3 How would workers buy anything if shops clocked in and out at precisely the same times as they did? 1959 Times 3 Nov. 13/4 When I took up a part-time job three weeks ago I was given a card with which to ‘clock in’ and ‘out’. 1965 New Statesman 30 Apr. 696/1 Nineteen clubs have clocked out in the League's 75-odd years. |
2. Bell-ringing. To sound a bell by pulling the clapper with a rope; to
clapper.
| 1872 Ellacombe Bells Ch. i. 25 Bells are sometimes chimed by what is called ‘clocking’ or ‘clappering’ them. 1872 J. T. Fowler Bells, Sacristy ii. 137 ‘Clocking’ ought to be put a stop to everywhere, and never allowed. |
3. To punch in the face; to hit. (
Cf. clock n.1 5 c.)
slang.| 1941 Baker Austral. Slang 18 To clock, to strike with the fist. 1947 D. M. Davin For Rest of Lives x. 51 So then I clocked him and we beat it. 1956 M. Procter Pub Crawler 125 He didn't say who'd clocked him. 1959 P. H. Johnson Unspeakable Skipton xxv. 225, I should have clocked Dorothy, as the saying goes, more times than I care to count. |
Add:
4. To watch or observe; to look at, notice.
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §482/2 Look at; see, clock, decko,..take a gander (at), [etc.]. 1943 N.Y. Times 9 May ii. 5/5 When Harry started to give out with the jive some alligators clocking the action started for the stage. 1960 News Chron. 16 Feb. 6/5 When she clocked the Fleet Street mob in the front of the gaff she said ‘My God’ and had it away double lively. 1962 F. Norman Guntz i. 5 They clocked me as I went past them,..we just looked at each other and that's all. 1980 Daily Mail 19 July 11/6 We had to top them because they had clocked us. We had to shoot them. 1986 Sunday Express Mag. 3 Aug. 33/1 Our waiter..was so busy clocking him that he spilt a bottle of precious appleade over the table cloth. |
▸
trans. Electronics and
Computing. To activate (a circuit, computer, etc.) by means of a repetitive timing signal which regulates its operation,
i.e. sets it to run at a particular rate. Usu. in
pass.| [1958 Nucl. Instruments 2 141/2 The three-phase clocking pulses are shown.] 1965 Nucl. Instruments & Methods 34 177/2 The electronics was capable of clocking with sparks 120 strips away. 1984 P. Simmons Further Pract. Microelectronics 178 The counter is a powerful addition which allows a precision staircase to be generated very simply merely by clocking the counter. 1992 Byte Nov. 135/3 Although the Performa 600's CPU is clocked at 31.334 MHz, the bus operates at only 15.667 MHz. 2003 Electronics World Jan. 34/2 (caption) This two-phase sequencer is clocked by an astable multivibrator. |
▸
trans. Brit. colloq. To turn back the odometer of (a vehicle) so that it registers a falsely low mileage. Also with the odometer as object.
Chiefly with reference to the second-hand car trade.
| 1969 Daily Tel. 12 Nov. 14/5 Before the Trade Descriptions Act came into force, many of these cars would, no doubt, have been ‘clocked’—the trade name for winding back the mileometer to give a lower reading. 1977 Drive Sept.–Oct. 113/1 The punter-hunter fills his advert with euphemisms... Genuine mileage tried to clock the speedo but couldn't find my screwdriver. 1986 Times 12 Apr. 3/3 A Scottish dealer was sent to prison after being found guilty of ‘clocking’ more than 700..fleet cars. 1998 Which? Aug. 14/2 If you're buying a second-hand car, you may find it impossible to get a warranty if the car's mileage can't be guaranteed (that is, if the dealer can't prove that the car hasn't been clocked earlier on in its life). |
▪ VI. clock, v.2 Now confined to
Sc. and
north. dial. (
klɒk)
Forms: 1
cloccian, 4–6
clok(k, 5
cloyke, 6
Sc. cloik, (8
clocque), 5–
clock.
[OE. cloccian, corresp. to MDu. clocken, Du. klokken, Sw. klokka, klukka. The other Teut. langs. have forms with u, like mod.Eng. cluck, though o forms are not uncommon dialectally: see klocken2 in Grimm = klucken, glucken. Of echoic origin; as are also L. gloc-īre and Gr. κλώζ-ειν (fut. κλώξω, deriv. κλωγ-µός).] 1. intr. To make the peculiar noise of a brooding hen: to cluck.
| c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc 76 in Anglia VIII. 309 Ðeah seo brodiᵹe henn..sarlice clocciᵹe heo tospræt hyre fyðera. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. xvii. (Tollem. MS.) [The capon] clokkeþ as an hen, and clepeþ chikens to gedir, clokkynge with an hose voyse. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 83 Clokkyn as hennys, crispio. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. ii. 133 Hyr birdis sine, clokkand, scho seikis on raw. 1570 Sempill Ballates 84 They say he can baith quhissill and cloik [rime-wds. mock, block]. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis To Rdr. (Arb.) 14 Yt were lyke ynough that soom grammatical pullet..would stand clocking agaynst mee, as thogh hee had found an horse nest. 1631 R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature xii. §5. 150 The Cock..when he hath found a Barly Corn clocks, and calls to it his Hennes. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. vi. vii. (1852) 452 He bark'd like a dog, then he clocqu'd like an hen. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) 1, To clock, or cluck, glocio. 1808–79 Jamieson, Clock, Clok, to cluck, to call chickens together. |
† 2. trans. To call (chickens) by this note.
Obs.| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 660 Nowe she [the hen] goth before, And clocketh hem. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xxiii. 109 b, The carefull hen, fearing her chickens, dothe clocke them together. 1606 Earl of Northampton in True & Perf. Rel. Ff iv b, So long doeth the great brood Hen clocke her chickens. |
† b. fig.| 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1179/2 Like a louing hen, he clocketh home vnto him, euen those chikins of hys. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 244 Edburge..clocked together a sort of simple women, which under her wing there tooke upon them the Popish veile of widowhood. a 1716 South Serm. IV. 54 Engaging men..to hold forth..wheresoever, and howsoever, they could clock the senseless and unthinking rabble about them. |
3. intr. Applied to similar inarticulate sounds, made by the mouth, stomach, etc. [
Cf. Ger. dial. klocken2 in Grimm.]
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 220 Sona biþ seo wamb ᵹehefeᵹod and cloccet swa swa hit on cylle slecᵹete. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health §309 Rvgitvs ventris be the latin wordes. In Englyshe it is named crokyng or clockyng in ones bely. 1553 Bale Gardiner's Obed. E vj, To clocke or to saye naye, to those thinges þ{supt} have ben done. 1871 Wise New Forest 186. 1883 Hampsh. Gloss., Clocking, the sound made by falling, gurgling water. |
4. intr. and trans. To sit on eggs; to incubate, hatch. (Now the common use in northern
dial.)
| 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. (Jam.), Ye're sae keen of the clocking, you'll die in the nest. 1808–79 Jamieson, Clock, to hatch, to sit on eggs. This is the modern sense. 1811 Willan Gloss. W. Riding Yorksh., Clock, to hatch. |
b. fig. To ‘hatch’.
| 1836 Galt in Tait's Mag. III. 31 It was he that first clockit the project. |
Hence
clock-,
vb. stem in
Comb., as
† clock-hen [
Du. klokhen,
MHG. kluckhenne], clocking hen.
| 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. clxxx. 1121 God..vpbraideth vs, y{supt} he hath played y⊇ clockhen towardes vs, and wee could not abide it. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Clucca gallina, a clocke hen, glocitans gallina, vel incumbans. |
▪ VII. † clock, v.3 Obs. rare.
Also 4–5
clokke.
[a. ONF. clokier = F. clochier, mod.F. clocher, Picard cloker = Pr. clopchar, according to Diez:—late L. *cloppicāre, f. late L. clopp-us lame.] intr. To limp, hobble.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 35 Þer Cunnynge Clerkes schul Couche [3 MSS. clokke] be-hynde. 1377 Ibid. B. iii. 34 Konnyng clerkes shul clokke [1393 clocke] bihynde. |
▪ VIII. clock, v.4 Also
clox.
[f. clock n.2] trans. To embroider clocks on. Hence
ˈclocker, one who embroiders clocks.
| 1880 in Webster Suppl. 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §407 Clocker;..sometimes further designated according to thread used, e.g., silk clocker. 1922 Glasgow Herald 9 Oct. 3 You must learn to clox your own stockings. |