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Clock vs Tock - What's the difference?

clock | tock |

As nouns the difference between clock and tock

is that clock is an instrument used to measure or keep track of time; a non-portable timepiece or clock can be a pattern near the heel of a sock or stocking or clock can be a large beetle, especially the european dung beetle (scarabaeus stercorarius ) while tock is (used in conjunction with tick) a clicking sound similar to one made by the hands of a clock.

As verbs the difference between clock and tock

is that clock is to measure the duration of or clock can be to ornament (eg the side of a stocking) with figured work or clock can be (dated) to make the sound of a hen; to cluck while tock is to produce such a sound.

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

    External links

    * (Time)

    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 ----

    tock

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (used in conjunction with tick) A clicking sound similar to one made by the hands of a clock.

    • Derived terms

    * tick-tock

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To produce such a sound.
  • * Roger Ladd Memmott, Sweet Sally Ann
    • The clock chimed the hour and then audibly tocked as the pendulum swung behind the glass pane of the door.
  • * 1967 , William Gray Purcell, St. Croix Trail Country: Recollections of Wisconsin
    • The old clock tocked with a wooden "cluck," and like as not a squirrel would be hopping across the oilcloth table or scrambling along the loose bark of the log wall in search of a stray gingersnap.