▪ I. clocker north. dial.
(ˈklɒkə(r))
[f. clock v.2 + -er1.]
A clocking or sitting hen.
| 1804 W. Tarras Poems, My Auld Hat (Jam.), Crib some clockers chuckie brood. 1882 Tod Bits fr. Blinkbonny 140 Put Dan's eggs under one of Bell's ‘clockers’. |
▪ II. clocker, n.3
Brit. /ˈklɒkə/, U.S. /ˈklɑkər/
[‹ clock v.1 + -er suffix1.]
1. U.S. Horse Racing. A person (usually one employed by a racing magazine or paper) who times horses' training runs in order to give a guide to form.
| 1903 Everybody's Mag. Aug. 210/1 The ‘clocker’ looked at his watch, whistled softly, and noted the figures in his book. 1948 Daily Racing Form 29 June 2/2 Almost all training trials come under the view of competent and impartial clockers. 1997 Orange County (Santa Ana, Calif.) Reg. (Nexis) 26 June d19 Villany, a 2-year-old son of Runaway Winner, had the clockers checking their watches last Thursday when he drilled 220 yards in a sizzling 12.20, the fastest of 14 workouts that morning. |
2. Brit. colloq. A person who turns back the odometer of a vehicle so that it registers a falsely low mileage. Cf. clock v.1
Chiefly with reference to the second-hand car trade.
| 1986 Sunday Post (Glasgow) 13 Apr. 4/3 ‘Clockers’ tend to concentrate on cars of up to three years of age. 1994 Daily Tel. 3 Aug. 6/4 By buying and selling just one car a week a clocker can earn {pstlg}500, says Carweek magazine. 1999 BBC Top Gear Mag. June 189/3 The biggest potential mishap is landing yourself with a clocked car. They wear their miles deceptively well, so look out for the tell-tale signs of a clocker. |
3. U.S. slang. A drug dealer, esp. one who works on the streets.
| 1989 Newsweek 11 Sept. 19/3 The clockers are all juveniles, and one of them..is only 10 years old. 1992 R. Price Clockers i. i. 25 With him standing there, they all got worse, knowing he wasn't just a clocker but Rodney's lieutenant. 1997 Denver Westword (Nexis) 8 May ‘These were nickel-and-dime guys,’ Nicholson says. ‘The street vernacular would cast them as {oqq}clockers{cqq}. But they had them cold on videotape, with a kilo of cocaine.’ |