Definition: clock

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

clock
     n : a timepiece that shows the time of day
     v : measure the time or duration of an event or action or the
         person who performs an action in a certain period of
         time; "he clocked the runners" [syn: time]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Regulate \Reg"u*late\ (-l[=a]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Regulated
   (-l[=a]`t[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Regulating.] [L.
   regulatus, p. p. of regulare, fr. regula. See Regular.]
   1. To adjust by rule, method, or established mode; to direct
      by rule or restriction; to subject to governing principles
      or laws.

            The laws which regulate the successions of the
            seasons. --Macaulay.

            The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own
            disputes, and regulated their own police.
                                                  --Bancroft.

   2. To put in good order; as, to regulate the disordered state
      of a nation or its finances.

   3. To adjust, or maintain, with respect to a desired rate,
      degree, or condition; as, to regulate the temperature of a
      room, the pressure of steam, the speed of a machine, etc.

   To regulate a watch or clock, to adjust its rate of
      running so that it will keep approximately standard time.

   Syn: To adjust; dispose; methodize; arrange; direct; order;
        rule; govern.

Beat \Beat\, n.
   1. A stroke; a blow.

            He, with a careless beat, Struck out the mute
            creation at a heat.                   --Dryden.

   2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of
      the heart; the beat of the pulse.

   3. (Mus.)
      (a) The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the
          divisions of time; a division of the measure so
          marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit.
      (b) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the
          one it is intended to ornament.

   4. (Acoustics & Mus.) A sudden swelling or re["e]nforcement
      of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced
      by the interference of sound waves of slightly different
      periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other
      kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced
      by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in
      unison. See Beat, v. i., 8.

   5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a
      watchman's beat.

   6. A place of habitual or frequent resort.

   7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often
      emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat. [Low]

   Beat of drum (Mil.), a succession of strokes varied, in
      different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a
      march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to
      direct an attack, or retreat, etc.

   Beat of a watch, or clock, the stroke or sound made by
      the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of
      beat, according as the strokes is at equal or unequal
      intervals.

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 \Clock\ (kl[o^]k), v. t.
   To ornament with figured work, as the side of a stocking.

Clock \Clock\, v. t. & i.
   To call, as a hen. See Cluck. [R.]

Clock \Clock\, n. (Zo["o]l.)
   A large beetle, esp. the European dung beetle (Scarab[ae]us
   stercorarius).

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10)

clock

   A processor's clock or one cycle thereof.  The relative
   execution times of instructions on a computer are usually
   measured by number of clock cycles rather than seconds.  One
   good reason for this is that 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)

Source: Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

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, n.  A machine of great moral value to man, allaying his concern
for the future by reminding him what a lot of time remains to him.

    A busy man complained one day:
    "I get no time!"  "What's that you say?"
    Cried out his friend, a lazy quiz;
    "You have, sir, all the time there is.
    There's plenty, too, and don't you doubt it --
    We're never for an hour without it."
                                                          Purzil Crofe