English Explanatory Dictionary

clock

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day.
  2. A common noun relating to an instrument that measures or keeps track of time.
  3. The odometer of a motor vehicle.
  4. An electrical signal that synchronizes timing among digital circuits of semiconductor chips or modules.
  5. The seed head of a dandelion.
  6. A time clock.
  7. A CPU clock cycle, or T-state.
  8. A luck-based patience or solitaire card game with the cards laid out to represent the face of a clock.
  9. A watch (timepiece).
  10. A face; the head.
verb
  1. To measure the duration of.
  2. To measure the speed of.
  3. To hit (someone) heavily.
  4. To notice; to take notice of (someone or something).
  5. To recognize; to assess, register.
  6. To identify (someone) as having some attribute (for example, being trans or gay).
  7. To falsify the reading of the odometer of a vehicle.
  8. To beat a video game.
  9. To expose or attack someone, typically in a targeted and insulting manner.
noun
  1. A pattern near the heel of a sock or stocking.
verb
  1. To ornament (e.g. the side of a stocking) with figured work.
noun
  1. A large beetle, especially the European dung beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius).
verb
  1. To make the sound of a hen; to cluck.
  2. To hatch.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/klɒk/ En-uk-clock.ogg kläk /klɑk/ En-us-clock.ogg [kl̥ɒχ]

Word forms

clock clocks CLK clocking clocked

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

odometer chronometer clock patience time slug smack thump whack read turn back (the vehicle's) clock wind back (the vehicle's) clock

Related words

meter watch

Derived words

12-hour clock 24-hour clock twenty-four-hour clock 400-day clock a broken clock is right twice a day Act of Parliament clock against the clock alarm clock alarum clock analog clock analogue clock anniversary clock around the clock around-the-clock a stopped clock is right twice a day astronomical clock atomic clock attoclock balloon clock banjo clock beat the clock beer clock bioclock biological clock black clock body clock bracket clock bum-clock bushman's clock caesium clock calendar clock carriage clock case clock chemical clock chess clock circadian clock clean someone's clock Clock clock app clock arithmetic clock calm clockcase clock cycle clock down clock face clock-face timetable clock gable Clockgate clock generator clock golf clock hour clockhouse clock is running clock is ticking clock it clock jack clock-jobber clockless clocklike clockmaker
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