Definition of "clock"

The seasons bring the flower again,⁠And bring the firstling to the flock;⁠And in the dusk of thee, the clockBeats out the little lives of men.

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], canto II

In the June days of 1848 Baudelaire reports seeing revolutionaries (he might have been one of them) going through the streets of Paris with rifles, shooting all the clocks.

1995, Richard Klein, “Introduction”, in Cigarettes are sublime, Paperback edition, Durham: Duke University Press, published 1993, page 8

Executing a NEXT to code takes 7 clocks, or 1.05 microseconds.

1984, The Journal of Forth Application and Research, volume 2, page 83

The best schedule produced by any hardware algorithm takes 7 clocks, whereas the statically reordered code in Figure 1.2(b) takes only 5 clocks.

1990, Joseph F. Traub, Barbara J. Grosz, Annual Review of Computer Science, page 180

Dan Patch clocked a scorching 1:55.5 flat.

1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 186

Pardon the way that I be talking ’bout the places I be rockingI love to perform for the people that be clocking

1988, “Nobody Beats the Biz”, in Goin' Off, performed by Biz Markie

Bo John and I twisted our heads around as Miranda braked over to the gravelly shoulder, let the Scout wheeze to a stop. She was climbing out, hurrying back to whatever had caught her eye. Bo John leered into the door mirror, clocking her flouncing, leggy strut.

2000, Phil Austin, Naugahide Days: The Lost Island Stories of Thomas Wood Briar‎, page 109

It is true. Carmen is an official gold digger. In fact, she is an instructor at the school of gold digging. Hood rats have been clocking her style for years. Wanting to pull the players she pulled, and wishing they had the looks she had.

2005, Jr. Aaron Bryant, Cupid Is Stupid‎, page 19

And he waits till I extend my hand, the two fingers visibly crushed. He clocks them, I say, "Phil."

2006, Ken Bruen, Dublin Noir: The Celtic Tiger Vs. the Ugly American‎, page 36

Cut to the pub on a lads night out, / Man at the bar cos it was his shout, / Clocks this bird and she looks OK, / Caught him looking and she walks his way,

2006, Lily Allen (lyrics and music), “Knock 'Em Out”

First it was only when I was with him—we would pass a pretty girl, I would notice her first, and my eyes would dart to his to see him clock her.

2021, Megan Nolan, Acts of Desperation‎, Random House

I had just long enough at Lancaster to clock another plaque to a great Victorian railway engineer, Joseph Locke (1805-60).

2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Lancaster (1860)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 58

Quarantine had thrown a new wrench "do not perceive me" discourse, but trans people have arguably always had a messy relationship to being perceived. We avoid it, and yet we also juice our lives to be seen. Getting clocked feels bad, but being hot feels good.

2022 March 1, Charlie Markbreiter, “"Other Trans People Make Me Dysphoric": Trans Assimilation and Cringe”, in The New Inquiry‎

But this you can't stand, so you throw up your hand,and you find you're as cold as an icicle,In your shirt and your socks (the black silk with gold clocks),crossing Salisbury Plain on a bicycle

1882, W.S. Gilbert, “When you're lying awake”, in Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri‎

She'd a gown wi' girt flowers lik' hollyhocksAn zome stockèns o' gramfer's a-knit wi' clocks

1894, William Barnes, “Grammer's Shoes”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect, page 110

Most decoration involved the ankle clocks, and several are shown on p.15 in the form of charts.

2004, Sheila McGregor, Traditional Scandinavian Knitting‎, Courier Dover, page 60

Clocks: These are ornamental designs embroidered or woven on to the ankles of stockings.

2006, J. Munslow, Kathryn McKelvey, Fashion Source Book‎, page 231

his stockings with silver clocks were ravished from him

c. 1720, Jonathan Swift, An Essay on Modern Education