clockwork

Etymology

It is formed from English clock + work.^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The mechanism of a clock or watch, its trains of wheels moved by weights or a spring: the OED's first example is from the churchwardens' accounts of Rye, 1516, revising its earlier dating.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1660s,^[3] and Merriam-Webster gives 1628 as the first known use.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the works of a clock the word passed to similar mechanisms in other devices (1652).^[2] Even earlier, in 1618, it was used figuratively of the way anything works,^[2] which Etymonline dates to the 1620s, before the literal sense in its records.^[3] From 1679 it described something mechanical, automatic or very regular, both as a noun and as an adjective;^[2][3] Johnson (1755) quoted Prior's comparison of a man to a clockwork.^[7] As an adjective it meant driven by clockwork from 1764, especially of wind-up toys.^[2][4] The phrases regular as clockwork (1758) and like clockwork, predictably (1775) and then smoothly, as planned (1826), followed.^[2] In American slang clockworks were the brain (1940s).^[8]

Timeline

• 1516 – the works of a clock or watch.^[2]
• 1618 – figuratively, the workings of something.^[2]
• 1652 – a similar mechanism in other devices.^[2]
• 1679 – of something mechanical or very regular, also as an adjective.^[2]
• 1758 – regular as clockwork.^[2]
• 1764 – adjective, driven by clockwork.^[2]
• 1775 – like clockwork, with mechanical regularity.^[2]
• 1826 – like clockwork, smoothly and as planned.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The mechanism of a clock or watch, with its gears and springs, or a similar mechanism in another device.^[6][2][4]
2. A spring-driven timing device, as in a toy or a bomb.^[6]
3. Something that works with mechanical regularity or precision.^[6][2]
4. like clockwork: smoothly and without problems, or with great regularity: The handover went like clockwork.^[2][4]
5. regular as clockwork: very regular.^[2][4]

Adjective

1. Driven by clockwork, especially of a toy wound up with a key: a clockwork mouse.^[2][4]
2. Mechanical or very regular, like clockwork.^[2][4]

Related words

• clock
• work

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com