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What is the difference between watch and clock?

watch | clock |

Clock is a synonym of watch.



In transitive terms the difference between watch and clock

is that watch is to attend to dangers to or regarding while clock is to ornament (e.g. the side of a stocking) with figured work.

watch

English

(wikipedia watch)

Etymology 1

As a noun, from (etyl) wacche, from (etyl) . See below for verb form.

Noun

(es)
  • A portable or wearable timepiece.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.
    More people today carry a watch on their wrists than in their pockets.
  • The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
  • * Milton
  • shepherds keeping watch by night
  • * Addison
  • All the long night their mournful watch they keep.
  • A particular time period when guarding is kept.
  • The second watch of the night began at midnight.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I did stand my watch upon the hill.
  • * Milton
  • Might we but hear / Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock / Count the night watches to his feathery dames.
  • A person or group of people who guard.
  • The watch stopped the travelers at the city gates.
  • * Bible, Matthew xxvii. 65
  • Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch ; go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
  • The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He upbraids Iago, that he made him / Brave me upon the watch .
  • (nautical) A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch'', ''port watch .
  • (nautical) A period of time on duty, usually four hours in length; the officers and crew who tend the working of a vessel during the same watch. (FM 55–501).
  • The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
  • * 2004 , Charles P. Nemeth, Criminal law
  • A quick watch of Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange sends this reality home fast. Amoral, vacuous, cold-blooded, unsympathetic, and chillingly evil describe only parts of the story.
    Derived terms
    * hurricane watch * on one's watch * on the watch * pocket watch * stand watch * stopwatch * tornado watch * wristwatch

    Etymology 2

    As a verb, from (etyl) wacchen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (es)
  • (label) To look at, see, or view for a period of time.
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}
  • (label) To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.
  • (label) To mind, attend, or guard.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1899, author=(Stephen Crane)
  • , title=, chapter=1 , passage=[…] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […]”}}
  • (label) To be wary or cautious of.
  • (label) To attend to dangers to or regarding.
  • (label) To remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil.
  • (label) To be vigilant or on one's guard.
  • (label) To act as a lookout.
  • To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
  • To be awake.
  • * 1485 , (Thomas Malory), (w, Le Morte d'Arthur) , Book X:
  • So on the morne Sir Trystram, Sir Gareth and Sir Dynadan arose early and went unto Sir Palomydes chambir, and there they founde hym faste aslepe, for he had all nyght wacched [...].
    Usage notes
    * When used transitively to mean look at something, there is an implication that the direct object is something which is capable of changing.
    Antonyms
    * ignore
    Derived terms
    * clock-watcher * watch it * watch like a hawk * watch the pennies * watch this space * watchman * watchtower

    See also

    * wait * wake 1000 English basic words

    clock

    English

    (wikipedia clock)

    Etymology 1

    c. 1350–1400, (etyl) , (etyl) Glocke, (etyl) klocka. More at (laugh).

    Alternative forms

    * (contraction used in electronics)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An instrument used to measure or keep track of time; a non-portable timepiece.
  • (British) The odometer of a motor vehicle.
  • This car has over 300,000 miles on the clock .
  • (electronics) An electrical signal that synchronizes timing among digital circuits of semiconductor chips or modules.
  • The seed head of a dandelion.
  • A timeclock.
  • I can't go off to lunch yet, I'm still on the clock .
    We let the guys use the shop's tools and equipment for their own projects as long as they're off the clock .
    Synonyms
    * (instrument used to measure or keep track of time) timepiece * (odometer of a motor vehicle) odometer
    Derived terms
    * a broken clock is right twice a day * alarm clock * atomic clock * beat the clock * biological clock * body clock * carriage clock * case clock * clean someone's clock * clock generator * clockhouse * clock radio * clock signal * clock-watcher * clockwise * clockwork * cuckoo clock * dandelion clock * face that would stop a clock * grandfather clock * o'clock * on the clock * run down the clock * shot clock * time clock * wall clock * water clock * work against the clock * work around the clock / work round the clock

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To measure the duration of.
  • To measure the speed of.
  • He was clocked at 155 miles per hour.
  • (slang) To hit (someone) heavily.
  • When the boxer let down his guard, his opponent clocked him.
  • (slang) To take notice of; to realise.
  • Clock the wheels on that car!
    He finally clocked that there were no more cornflakes.
  • * 2006 , (Lily Allen), Knock 'Em Out
  • 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,
  • (British, slang) To falsify the reading of the odometer of a vehicle.
  • I don't believe that car has done only 40,000 miles. It's been clocked.
  • (transitive, New Zealand, slang) To beat a video game.
  • Have you clocked that game yet?
    Quotations
    * to take notice of ** {{quote-book, 2000, title=Naugahide Days: The Lost Island Stories of Thomas Wood Briar, author=Phil Austin, page=109 citation , passage=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.}} ** {{quote-book, 2005, title=Cupid Is Stupid, author=Jr. Aaron Bryant, page=19 citation , passage=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.}} ** {{quote-book, 2006, Dublin Noir: The Celtic Tiger Vs. the Ugly American, author=Ken Bruen, page=36 citation , passage=And he waits till I extend my hand, the two fingers visibly crushed. He clocks them, I say, "Phil."}}
    Synonyms
    * (measure the duration of) time * (measure the speed of) * slug, smack, thump, whack * check out, scope out * turn back (the vehicle's) clock, wind back (the vehicle's) clock
    Derived terms
    * clock in * clock on * clock off * clock out * clock up

    Etymology 2

    Origin uncertain; designs may have originally been bell-shaped and thus related to Etymology 1, above.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A pattern near the heel of a sock or stocking.
  • * {{quote-journal, 1882, journal=Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri, author= W.S. Gilbert, title=When you're lying awake citation
  • , passage=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}}
  • * {{quote-journal, 1894, journal=Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect, author=William Barnes, page=110, title=Grammer's Shoes
  • , passage=She'd a gown wi' girt flowers lik' hollyhocks
    An zome stockèns o' gramfer's a-knit wi' clocks }}
  • * {{quote-book, 2004, title=Traditional Scandinavian Knitting, author=Sheila McGregor, page=60, publisher=Courier Dover citation
  • , passage=Most decoration involved the ankle clocks , and several are shown on p.15 in the form of charts.}}
  • * {{quote-book, 2006, title=Fashion Source Book, author=J. Munslow, Kathryn McKelvey, page=231 citation
  • , passage=Clocks : These are ornamental designs embroidered or woven on to the ankles of stockings.}}
    (Jonathan Swift)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To ornament (e.g. the side of a stocking) with figured work.
  • See also

    * meter * watch

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A large beetle, especially the European dung beetle (Scarabaeus stercorarius ).
  • Etymology 4

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (dated) To make the sound of a hen; to cluck.
  • (Webster 1913) 1000 English basic words ----