DAILY UPDATED VOCABULARY WITH PICTURES. Clock.

• clock [countable]
• 1 an instrument that shows what time it is, in a room or outside on a building:
• The clock on the church tower said nine o'clock.
• I lay there listening to the clock ticking.
• Mary set her alarm clock for 6:30 am (=made sure it would ring at 6:30).
• My clock stopped and I didn't wake up in time.
• I heard the clock strike six.
• by the hall/kitchen/church etc clock (=according to a particular clock)
• What time is it by the kitchen clock?
• the clock is slow/fast (=the clock is showing an earlier or later time than the real time)
• The station clock was ten minutes slow.
• wind (up) a clock (=turn a key in a clock so that it keeps working)
• set a clock by something (=change the time on a clock according to the time on the television, radio etc)
• I set my clock by the 6 o'clock news.
• clock face (=the front part of a clock)
• ➔ alarm clock, carriage clock, cuckoo clock, grandfather clock

  ➔ watch the clock

   at watch1 (8)
• 2

   around the clock

  also

   round the clock

  British English all day and all night without stopping:
• Kim has been working round the clock to finish it in time.
• 3

   put/turn the clock back

• a) also set the clock back American English to go back to the way things were done in the past instead of doing things in a modern way - used in order to show disapproval:
• The new employment bill will put the clock back fifty years.
• b) to return to a good situation that you experienced in the past or to make someone remember such a situation:
• The kids are all grown up now and you can't put the clocks back.
• 4

   put the clock(s) back/forward

  British English to change the time shown on the clock to one hour earlier or later, when the time officially changes
• 5

   the clocks go back/forward

  British English the time changes officially to one hour earlier or later:
• The clocks go back in October.
• 6

   against the clock

• a) if you work against the clock, you work as quickly as you can because you do not have much time:
• Everyone is racing against the clock to get things ready in time.
• b) if you run, swim etc against the clock, you run or swim a particular distance while your speed is measured
• 7

   twenty-four hour clock

  a system for measuring time in which the hours of the day and night have numbers from 0 to 23
• 8

   start/stop the clock

  to start or stop measuring how much time is left in a game or sport that has a time limit
• 9

   the clock

• a) an instrument in a vehicle that measures how far it has travelled
• on the clock
• a car with 43,000 miles on the clock
• b) an instrument in a vehicle that measures the speed at which it is travelling
• 10

   run out the clock/kill the clock

  American English if a team runs out the clock at the end of a game, it tries to keep the ball for the rest of the game so that its opponents cannot get any points
• ➔ biological clock, body clock, dandelion clock, time clock

Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.