Dictionary Home » Dictionary Definitions » clock

clock

Listen See in Thesaurus See in a sentence

The definition of a clock is a device for measuring and showing the time of day, or a decoration on the side of a sock or stocking coming up from the ankle.

(noun)

An example of a clock is a watch.
An example of a clock is a piece of embroidery on a sock.

Clock means to measure speed or time.

(verb)

An example of clock is to record how long it takes a runner to finish a marathon.

See clock in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a device used for measuring and indicating time, usually by means of pointers moving over a dial: clocks, unlike watches, are not meant to be worn or carried about
☆ time clock
a measuring or recording device suggestive of a clock, as a taximeter

Origin: ME clokke, orig., clock with bells < ML clocca, bell < Celt, as in OIr cloc (> OE clugge, OHG glocka), bell < ? IE base *kel-, to cry out, sound > clamor

transitive verb

to measure the speed or record the time of (a race, runner, motorist, etc.) with a stopwatch or other timing device
to measure (work done, distance covered, etc.) with a registering device

noun

a woven or embroidered ornament on the side of a sock or stocking, going up from the ankle

Origin: < ? clock, because of orig. bell shape

Related Forms:

clocked adjective

See clock in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

An instrument other than a watch for measuring or indicating time, especially a mechanical or electronic device having a numbered dial and moving hands or a digital display.
A time clock.
A source of regularly occurring pulses used to measure the passage of time, as in a computer.
Any of various devices that indicate measurement, such as a speedometer or a taximeter.
A biological clock.
Botany The downy flower head of a dandelion that has gone to seed.

verb clocked clocked, clock·ing, clocks

verb, transitive