clock

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /klɒk/, US /klɑːk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English clokke, probably borrowed from Middle Dutch clocke (“clock, bell”),^[2][3][4] or from Old North French cloque “bell”; both are from Medieval Latin clocca (“bell”),^[2][3] probably from a Celtic source (compare Old Irish clocc, Welsh cloch) spread by Irish missionaries, unless the Celtic words are from Latin.^[2][3] It is probably imitative in origin, of the sound of early iron handbells.^[2][3] Hoad says it came with Flemish clockmakers brought in by Edward I.^[5] It is related to cloak, from the same word for “bell”, and to French cloche.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A timepiece that sounds the hours on a bell: 1371 in the OED, about 1370 in Barnhart.^[7][3] It replaced Old English dægmæl.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant a bell, later the striking mechanism of a watch, and then the instrument itself rather than the sound it made.^[6] A dial such as a taximeter or milometer is from 1930,^[7] and an electronic pulse generator in computing from 1947.^[7] The verb, to time by a clock, is from 1883,^[2][3] to clock in at work from 1914,^[2] and the slang “to hit” from 1941, originally Australian, from slang clock “face” (1923).^[2] To put the clock back is from 1862, and round-the-clock from 1943, at first of air raids.^[2]

Timeline

• 1371 – a striking timepiece.^[7]
• 1662 – clockwork.^[3]
• 1862 – put the clock back.^[2]
• 1883 – verb, to time.^[2][3]
• 1914 – clock in.^[2]
• 1941 – to hit.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An instrument for measuring and showing the time, with a dial and hands or a digital display.
2. A meter such as a speedometer or taximeter.
3. (computing) A device that produces regular pulses to synchronize operations.
4. The downy seed head of a dandelion.

Verb

1. To measure the time or speed of something.
2. To reach a time, speed or total.
3. (slang) To look at or notice.
4. (informal) To hit someone.

Word family

• clocker

Related words

• cloak
• clockwise
• clockwork
• o'clock

Usage notes

A clock, an ornamental pattern on the side of a sock or stocking, is from 1530.^[7] Etymonline thinks it probably the same word, from a bell-shaped ornament, while SOED gives it as of unknown origin.^[2][8] A dialect clock “beetle” (before 1550) and clock “to cluck”, from Old English cloccian, are different words.^[7][8][4]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press