(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is an instrument, for example in a room or on the outside of a building, that shows what time of day it is.
He was conscious of a ~ ticking...
He also repairs ~s and watches...
...a digital ~.
N-COUNT
2.
A time ~ in a factory or office is a device that is used to record the hours that people work. Each worker puts a special card into the device when they arrive and leave, and the times are recorded on the card.
Government workers were made to punch time ~s morning, noon and night.
N-COUNT: oft n N
3.
In a car, the ~ is the instrument that shows the speed of the car or the distance it has travelled. (mainly BRIT)
The car had 160,000 miles on the ~...
N-COUNT: usu sing, the N
4.
To ~ a particular time or speed in a race means to reach that time or speed.
Elliott ~ed the fastest time this year for the 800 metres...
VERB: V n
5.
If something or someone is ~ed at a particular time or speed, their time or speed is measured at that level.
He has been ~ed at 11 seconds for 100 metres...
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed at amount
6.
see also alarm ~ , biological ~ , body ~ , cuckoo ~ , grandfather ~ , o’~
7.
If you are doing something against the ~, you are doing it in a great hurry, because there is very little time.
The emergency services were working against the ~ as the tide began to rise...
It’s now become a race against the ~.
PHRASE: PHR after v, n PHR
8.
If something is done round the ~ or around the ~, it is done all day and all night without stopping.
Rescue services have been working round the ~ to free stranded motorists...
PHRASE: PHR with v, PHR n
9.
If you want to turn the ~ back or put the ~ back, you want to return to a situation that used to exist, usually because the present situation is unpleasant.
In some ways we wish we could turn the ~ back...
We cannot put back the ~.
PHRASE: V inflects