clock English · revision 5236

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1371|origins=la-med clocca}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /klɒk/, US /klɑːk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|clokke]], probably [[bor|dum|clocke|t=clock, bell]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) or from Old North French cloque “bell”; both are from [[la-med|clocca|t=bell]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) probably from a Celtic source (compare Old Irish clocc, Welsh cloch) spread by Irish missionaries, unless the Celtic words are from Latin.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It is probably imitative in origin, of the sound of early iron handbells.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Hoad says it came with Flemish clockmakers brought in by Edward I.^(Hoad 1986) It is related to [[cloak]], from the same word for “bell”, and to French cloche.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A timepiece that sounds the hours on a bell: 1371 in the OED, about 1370 in Barnhart.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) It replaced Old English dægmæl.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==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.^(Cresswell 2021) A dial such as a taximeter or milometer is from 1930,^(OED 1989) and an electronic pulse generator in computing from 1947.^(OED 1989) The verb, to time by a clock, is from 1883,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) to ''clock in'' at work from 1914,^(Etymonline) and the slang “to hit” from 1941, originally Australian, from slang clock “face” (1923).^(Etymonline) To ''put the clock back'' is from 1862, and ''round-the-clock'' from 1943, at first of air raids.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1371 – a striking timepiece.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1662 – ''clockwork''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1862 – ''put the clock back''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1883 – verb, to time.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1914 – ''clock in''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1941 – to hit.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An instrument for measuring and showing the time, with a [[dial]] and hands or a [[digital]] display.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A meter such as a [[speedometer]] or taximeter.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(computing)'' A device that produces regular pulses to [[synchronize]] operations.^(AHD)

+ # The downy seed head of a [[dandelion]].^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To measure the time or speed of something.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To reach a time, speed or total.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(slang)'' To look at or notice.^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''(informal)'' To hit someone.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==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.^(OED 1989) Etymonline thinks it probably the same word, from a bell-shaped ornament, while SOED gives it as of unknown origin.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) A dialect clock “beetle” (before 1550) and clock “to cluck”, from Old English cloccian, are different words.^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}