Nearby Words

o'clock

[uh-klok] Origin

o'clock

[uh-klok]
adverb
1.
of, by, or according to the clock (used in specifying the hour of the day): It is now 4 o'clock.
2.
according to a method for indicating relative position whereby a plane in space is considered to be numbered as a clock's face, with 12 o'clock considered as directly ahead in horizontal position or straight up in vertical position.

Origin:
1710–20; see o', clock1
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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O'clock is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Collins
World English Dictionary
o'clock (əˈklɒk)
 
adv
1.  used after a number from one to twelve to indicate the hour of the day or night
2.  used after a number to indicate direction or position relative to the observer, twelve o'clock being directly ahead or overhead and other positions being obtained by comparisons with a clock face
 
[C18: abbreviation for of the clock]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

o'clock
c.1720, abbreviation of of the clock, from M.E. of the clokke (1389). Attested from 1904 in ref. to direction (by shooters, fighter pilots, etc.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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