- clock
- [[t]klɒ̱k[/t]]
♦♦♦clocks, clocking, clocked1) N-COUNT A clock is an instrument, for example in a room or on the outside of a building, that shows what time of day it is.
He was conscious of a clock ticking...
He also repairs clocks and watches...
The hands of the clock on the wall moved with a slight click.
...a digital clock.
2) N-COUNT: oft n N A time clock in a factory or office is a device that is used to record the hours that people work. Each worker puts a special card into the device when they arrive and leave, and the times are recorded on the card.Government workers were made to punch time clocks morning, noon and night.
3) N-COUNT: usu sing, the N In a car, the clock is the instrument that shows the speed of the car or the distance it has travelled. [mainly BRIT]The car had 160,000 miles on the clock...
At 240 mph the needle went off the clock.
4) VERB To clock a particular time or speed in a race means to reach that time or speed.[V n] Elliott clocked the fastest time this year for the 800 metres...
[V n] The yacht swayed in 40-knot winds, clocking speeds of 17 knots at times.
Syn:5) VERB: usu passive If something or someone is clocked at a particular time or speed, their time or speed is measured at that level.[be V-ed at amount] He has been clocked at 11 seconds for 100 metres...
[be V-ed] 170-mile-an-hour winds were clocked on a mountaintop in North Carolina.
6) VERB If you clock something, you notice or see it. [BRIT, INFORMAL][V n] If there was any scandal in that company, you can be sure that Bobby will have clocked it.
7) → See also , biological clock, , cuckoo clock, , o'clock8) PHRASE: PHR after v, n PHR If you are doing something against the clock, you are doing it in a great hurry, because there is very little time.The emergency services were working against the clock as the tide began to rise...
It's now become a race against the clock.
9) PHRASE: V inflects If you beat the clock, you finish doing something or succeed in doing something before the time allowed for doing it has ended.10) PHRASE: PHR with v, PHR n If something is done round the clock or around the clock, it is done all day and all night without stopping.Rescue services have been working round the clock to free stranded motorists...
We can't afford to give you around-the-clock protection.
11) PHRASE: V inflects If you want to turn the clock back or put the clock back, you want to return to a situation that used to exist, usually because the present situation is unpleasant.In some ways we wish we could turn the clock back...
We cannot put back the clock.
12) PHRASE: V inflects If you are watching the clock, you keep looking to see what time it is, usually because you are bored by something and want it to end as soon as possible. [INFORMAL]I started to watch the clock about halfway through the class.
Phrasal Verbs:- clock in- clock on- clock up
English dictionary. 2008.
