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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.


o'clock

/ əˈklɒk /

adverb

  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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of o'clock1

First recorded in 1710–20; from o', a reduced form of of; o' + clock 1( def )

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Word History and Origins

Origin of o'clock1

C18: abbreviation for of the clock

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Example Sentences

Hitchcock arrives about ten o'clock, reads his mail, and answers the few phone calls he gets.

At eight o'clock the team filed out to warm up, Sawchuck leading, wide-legged in his goalie pads, and Howe last.

But he don't eat breakfast till he gets up for the races, maybe two o'clock in the afternoon.

I told him to get his taxi driver to come back at five o'clock in the morning and do you know what?

As Not the Nine o'Clock News, a spiritual successor to Python, once put it: “These men died for us – frequently.”

It was close upon twelve o'clock, and the "Rooms" had been open to the public for two hours.

At six o'clock I felt once more the welcome motion of a Railroad car, and at eight was in Venice.

It was now about eight o'clock at night, and the captain ordered supper immediately, thinking I had already fasted too long.

Seven o'clock was the hour fixed for the marriage: it would be twilight then, and dinner over.

Her hope persisted until half-past nine: it then began to fade, and, at ten o'clock, was extinct.

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