clock 1   (klŏk)    n.   An instrument other than a watch for measuring or indicating time, especially a mechanical or electronic device having a numbered dial and moving hands or a digital display. A time clock. A source of regularly occurring pulses used to measure the passage of time, as in a computer. Any of various devices that indicate measurement, such as a speedometer or a taximeter. A biological clock. Botany The downy flower head of a dandelion that has gone to seed. v.   clocked, clock·ing, clocks v.   tr. To time, as with a stopwatch: clock a runner. To register or record with a mechanical device: clocked the winds at 60 miles per hour. v.   intr. To record working hours with a time clock: clocks in at 8 A.M. and out at 4 P.M. [Middle English clokke, from Old North French cloque, bell, or from Middle Dutch clocke, bell, clock, both from Medieval Latin clocca, of imitative origin.] clock'er n.

Clock

Clock\, n. [AS. clucge bell; akin to D. klok clock, bell, G. glocke, Dan. klokke, Sw. klocka, Icel. klukka bell, LL. clocca, cloca (whence F. cloche); al perh. of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. clog bell, clock, W. cloch bell. Cf. Cloak.]

1. A machine for measuring time, indicating the hour and other divisions by means of hands moving on a dial plate. Its works are moved by a weight or a spring, and it is often so constructed as to tell the hour by the stroke of a hammer on a bell. It is not adapted, like the watch, to be carried on the person.

2. A watch, esp. one that strikes. [Obs.] --Walton.

3. The striking of a clock. [Obs.] --Dryden.

4. A figure or figured work on the ankle or side of a stocking. --Swift.

Note: The phrases what o'clock? it is nine o'clock, etc., are contracted from what of the clock? it is nine of the clock, etc.

Alarm clock. See under Alarm.

Astronomical clock. (a) A clock of superior construction, with a compensating pendulum, etc., to measure time with great accuracy, for use in astronomical observatories; -- called a regulator when used by watchmakers as a standard for regulating timepieces. (b) A clock with mechanism for indicating certain astronomical phenomena, as the phases of the moon, position of the sun in the ecliptic, equation of time, etc.

Electric clock. (a) A clock moved or regulated by electricity or electro-magnetism. (b) A clock connected with an electro-magnetic recording apparatus.

Ship's clock (Naut.), a clock arranged to strike from one to eight strokes, at half hourly intervals, marking the divisions of the ship's watches.

Sidereal clock, an astronomical clock regulated to keep sidereal time.

clock

1. n
1. [techspeak] The master oscillator that steps a CPU or other digital circuit through its paces. This has nothing to do with the time of day, although the software counter that keeps track of the latter may be derived from the former.
2. vt. To run a CPU or other digital circuit at a particular rate. "If you clock it at 100MHz, it gets warm.". See overclock.
3. vt. To force a digital circuit from one state to the next by applying a single clock pulse. "The data must be stable 10ns before you clock the latch."

clock 

Main Entry: clock
Pronunciation: 'kläk
Function: noun
: BIOLOGICALCLOCK

clock processor
A circuit in a processor that generates a regular sequence of electronic pulses used to synchronise operations of the processor's components. The time between pulses is the cycle time and the number of pulses per second is the clock rate (or frequency).
The execution times of instructions on a computer are usually measured by a number of clock cycles rather than seconds. Clock rates for various models of the computer may increase as technology improves, and it is usually the relative times one is interested in when discussing the instruction set.
(1994-12-16)

clock

In addition to the idioms beginning with clock, also see against the clock; beat the clock; clean someone's clock; like clock-work; set back (the clock); stop someone's clock; stop the clock.