Whether they are analog or digital, watches are relied upon to do the job of measuring elapsed time. So when you clock something, you are measuring its time or speed (basically, how fast it moves over a given period of time). You can get 80 mph driving in the 55 zone (oops!), or type 70 words per minute (impressive!).
Don’t do both at the same time.
stopwatch in
Occasionally, however, a watch’s ability to measure is extended beyond time or speed into other realms, as expressed by the phrasal verb. internal clock:
And when they hit 100 proof or higher (a whiskey in this tasting clock in 132 crippling evidence) arguments for the strength of the barrel and above seem flimsy. —Kara Newman, wine enthusiastJuly 2013
Three days before my first match, I had never measured my height or body fat, and was told that the “fitness standard” required me not to weigh more than 122 pounds. I did not clock at that weight since puberty (I’m 5 feet 3 and very muscular). — around the worldNovember 20, 2015
Wade is more of a killer, and just clock at a generous 6 foot-4, while Huerter is a more traditional swingman shooter, measuring 6 foot-7, which is pretty much the archetypal height for the position. —Luis Paez-Pumar, dead gyroMarch 5, 2019
There’s a lot here, though the book clock in 207 pages very unlike Caro. Most surprising revelation: Caro, who has averaged about a decade since publishing each volume of his LBJ series, is actually a pretty fast writer. — Scott Detrow, NPR.org, April 8, 2019
Some writing teachers or use commentators may consider these examples a mixed metaphor, since the devices used to measure alcohol content, weight, or height are not quite watches. But the use clock in a language evaluating everything other than time or speed is not an unusual concept.
Another use of clock Apply it to places where a person spends a period of time such as completing a sentence or asking:
After that initial statement of purpose, Tweedy spends the rest of the album gracefully dealing with the things he can’t control. (Donuts for which the Serenity Prayer hangs on the bathroom door wherever he is clock his rehabilitation.) — David Marchese, TurnJuly 2009
‘Clock’ is Realize or Understand
Another sense of clock means to come to perceive or understand.
Kiko is on a milk collecting mission… He timed one of those missions #elephant take a bottle and make a line for it. Luckily, one of the Guardians was on the case, luring Kiko away with his own bottle! Learn more about the tallest orphan we care for: https://t.co/fKUYwlBTUA pic.twitter.com/ZTA0sAYpGV
– Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (@SheldrickTrust) June 19, 2019
The movie was horrible, but people just clock that came a few months later, when Parker’s involvement in a sexual assault came to light. —Catherine Shoard, guardJune 30, 2018
I didn’t either clock how would it hurt professionally. When you’re paid less, it’s hard not to question your own abilities and worth to the employer. — Sarah Montague, in Announcement (UK), April 9, 2018
This meaning has been common in British English for a while, but is starting to be used more in American English.
Viewers immediately suspect the adults featured in the home footage (there’s something wrong with that Uncle Larry), but not Henry and Jacqui. clock them as threats at the time., — David Ehrlich, IndieWire1 month of 2019
Here’s another thing I didn’t clock in previous performances: “Gone Missing,” while interesting, is a bit thin. It seems to be written by young people who are curious about loss rather than by older people – or other young people – who are actually living with it. —Alexis Soloski, New York TimesJuly 12, 2018
Even if he loses more than he wins, the result is a permanent shock to the legal system and palpable harm to real people as the cases continue. But on Tuesday night, the opposite appeared to have happened: The soft power of legal rules and the warnings (or lack of enthusiasm) of his closest supporters, including his own White House adviser, apparently forced the president to resign. That’s how conventional constitutional democracies work, but it’s such an unfamiliar occurrence in recent years that we hardly clock it when we see it. — Dahlia Lithwick, slateJanuary 9, 2019
The use of clock meaning “notify” or “recognize” seems to combine the function of a watch with that of a detector, such as a smoke alarm or a Geiger counter. New American Slang Dictionary of Partridge assign the date 1929 to a meaning meaning “to come across or pay attention to something or someone”, with the senses later being applied to gambling (for example, keeping a close eye on opponents to recognize in a poker game or monitor slot machines to predict when they will pay). A specific use of clock related to the transgender community also implies that finding, referring to the act of recognizing another person as transgender. As Dawn Ennis notes in Apologistthis action is considered to be hurtful in the community:
But for people in the transgender world like us, the term “timer” is used to reflect that someone transgender has been recognized as transgender, usually when that person is trying to tries to fit in with transgender people and doesn’t intend to be seen as anything else. than the gender they represent. “Watch” is often used by presentation-focused transgender men and women to explain the heavy frustration they feel, often when trans people watch for them, but also maybe when someone transgender does it. Another word is “read,” as in “She read me” or “I got read as trans.” — Dawn of Ennis, ApologistFebruary 4, 2016
Now maybe we should stop watching the clock and get back to work.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
