Hi. In this video, Im going to introduce some idioms that use the word clock in them.

A
ndthen Im going to try to give some examples of each one so you can see how its used
.
like clockwork
Lets start with the first one. The first one is like clockwork. Something that is like clock
workmeans that it happens at a very particular and regular time interval. Its very predict
able justlike the workings of a clock.

For example, trains in Japan run like clockwork. Theyre always on time. Around my hou
se,birds begin singing in the morning like clockwork, 10 minutes before the sun comes u
p. So Ican count on it, I know its going to happen. Its like clockwork. So thats the first o
ne.

beat the clock

The next idiom is beat the clock. So this means to finish before time expires, before ade
adline. For example, this month we were very busy but we managed to beat the clock a
ndget all of the Fast Fluency Formula lessons finished before the 10th of the month, whi
ch isthe day we release the lessons. We beat the clock. The clock was ticking and we g
ot themdone just in time.

I went to a concert recently and I beat the clock. I arrived just before the concert started.
Ibeat the clock. A friend of mine failed to beat the clock and she saw closed doors whe
n shegot there. She failed to beat the clock. So to beat the clock means to finish before t
he timeexpires.

around the clock

Now thats different from the next one which is around the clock or sometimes youll he
arround the clock. People will drop the a at the beginning. So round the clock or aro
und theclock. Around the clock just means continuously, without stopping all day and
night.Around the clock.

For example, theyre working around the clock to finish the new Olympic stadium before
theOlympics begin. So theres a deadline and theyre working really, really hard night a
nd day tofinish it. Theyre working around the clock.

Convenience stores are open round the clock, 24/7. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, rou
ndthe clock because people need things in the middle of the night so thats why theyrec
onvenient. Convenience stores are open round the clock.

Do you sometimes work round the clock or do you do something round the clock?

All right. Around the clock, without stopping.

against the clock
Now thats different from against the clock. Youll hear this idiom also, against the cloc
k.And that means to hurry, to get something done before a certain time is reached. You
reagainst the clock.

You often hear this idiom preceded by the verbs work, like work against the clock, or r
ace,race against the clock. For example, Juanita, she is in a race against the clock to f
inish herreport by the deadline, otherwise her boss will get angry. Shes in a race agains
t the clock.Were working against the clock to get everything ready before the first guest
arrives. Werehaving a party this evening and were working against the clock to make s
ure everything isfinished as soon as that first guest arrives. So were working against th
e clock.

5 oclock shadow
The next one is 5 oclock shadow. Can you guess what that means? If youve never he
ard itbefore, it might be difficult to guess. But basically a 5 oclock shadow is the facial h
air thatgrows on a mans face about 10 hours or 12 hours after he shaves. Most of you, i
f youre aman youre probably familiar with this but when you shave, immediately your s
kin is nice andsmooth but later in the day maybe around 4 or 5 oclock, people can start
to see the hairgrowing back and thats called a 5 oclock shadow.

Some men look more handsome with a 5 oclock shadow. They look more handsome. S
omemen dont. Some men like to keep an electric razor in their desk drawer at work so t
hey canget rid of their 5 oclock shadow later in the afternoon and still appear clean sha
ven. So haveyou ever had a 5 oclock shadow?

the clock is ticking

The next one is the clock is ticking. This is a very common and youve probably heard i
tbefore. But when we say the clock is ticking we say that when we feel some kind ofpre
ssure from time passing very quickly and its not a pleasant feeling sometimes. We feel
alittle bit of anxiety or pressure.

For example, if we have a decision to make and someone says, Look, we cant wait an
ylonger. We must to decide now. The clock is ticking. It will be too late if we dont decide
now.So you might hear it in that case, the clock is ticking.

One common situation that youll hear people use this idiom is when theyre talking abo
utwomen whose biological clock is ticking. For example, maybe theres a woman and sh
eshad a really great career and now shes 38 years old, 39 years old. She wants to get
married.She wants to start a family but the clock is ticking. She cant wait forever. Her b
ody will not beable to have children safely if she waits too long. So the clock is ticking. T
heres somepressure there.

So those are two examples of how to use the clock is ticking.

clock in / clock out
The next is clock in and clock out. These are actually phrasal verbs but were putting t
hemin this idioms video because I think theyre really useful and theyre good to know. T
o clockin and clock out basically means to start work and finish work. So when you clo
ck in youstart your work, and when you clock out you finish work. So I might say to som
eone, Ohman, Ive been working really hard all day. Its time for me to clock out. Im goi
ng to finishwork. Or someone might say, Hey, you seem to be working hard today. An
d I might say,Yeah, I clocked in really early this morning.

Of course these words come from actually putting a card inside of a clock that punches i
twith a specific time so employers can keep track of the amount of hours that their empl
oyeesare working. So thats where it comes from, to clock in and clock out, to punch a
timecard.

We might say that I clocked in at exactly 9:00 this morning and I clocked out at 5pm. I w
orkedfrom 9 to 5. Or Matthew clocked in late three times this week! Maybe we need to h
ave a talkwith him. Okay, so thats clock in and clock out.

turn back the clock

Now heres an idiom that you might find interesting. Turn the clock back or turn back th
eclock. We can use it either way. Turn the clock back or turn back the clock. It basical
lymeans to return to the past in some way or form. To return to the past, to bring the pas
t backinto the present. Turn back the clock.

For example, I know a woman. Shes in her Actually, shes about 60 years old but she
doesnt look it. Recently shes been doing a lot of exercise, shes been watching her diet
,shes been using a lot of treatments on her face. And wow, she just really has turned b
ackthe clock on her appearance. She looks a lot younger than she used to.

We might say the radio station yesterday evening, they really turned back the clock and
played all of the greatest hits from the 1960s and 70s. They turned back the clock. Or w
emight talk about a married couple who has been having many problems. Theyre beenf
ighting and fighting for years, and finally they had some insight and they decided to turn
back the clock on their relationship and go back to the way it used to be. So theyre turni
ngback the clock.

clean someones clock

The next one is clean someones clock. To clean someones clock. Can you guess th
emeaning of that? Not an easy one to guess. Basically, to clean someones clock mea
ns todefeat that person, in some cases. In many cases, we use it to mean we punched
someonein the face, cleaned his clock. That man cleaned his clock. He punched him in
the face. Or itcan mean defeat.
Let me give you some examples. Dont get in a fight with that guy. Dont pick a fight with
him.Hes a martial arts expert. Hell clean your clock. Or we might say, lets think of a gr
eatathlete. Serena Williams, the tennis player, the number one tennis player in the world
. Shecleaned everyones clock in the last tournament. She did not even lose a single set
in theentire tournament on her way to the finals. She cleaned all of her opponents cloc
ks. Shecleaned their clocks. Maybe theres a man on a bus and hes being very rude to
everyoneelse and hes yelling and screaming and frightening other passengers. One of t
hepassengers on the bus had enough and cleaned that guys clock, just punched him in
theface. I dont suggest you solve problems that way but thats what this idiom means.
To cleanones clock. To defeat another person.

move the clock back/forward

The very last one Im going to introduce is move the clock back or move the clock forw
ard.This means basically to adjust the time on a clock or a watch or some kind of devic
e.

For example, every spring in the USA, in the United States, in most states we have to m
ovethe clock forward in the spring and then move the clock back in the fall. Thats called
DaylightSavings Time. In fact, we have another phrase or idiom that we use, spring for
ward, fallback. Thats means in the spring, we jump, spring. Thats another meaning of j
ump. Wespring forward and we fall as in the autumn. Or it has a double meaning, to fall
back, to goback. So spring forward, fall back. We move the clock forward in the spring a
nd we move theclock back in the fall.

Another reason we might do this is if were travelling overseas on an airplane. So I migh

t say,upon landing in Bangkok, I had to move the clock back 2 hours on my watch. I had
to movethe clock back to adjust for the time.

So those are 10 different idioms and phrases that you can use thats related to the word
clock. If you have any questions, please do ask. Id be happy to give you more example
s inthe comments section.