Meaning of o'clock | Babel Free

Definitions

1. In conjunction with a numeral, indicates the time within a twelve-hour period (midnight to noon or noon to midnight), specifically the time when the hour hand of a clock points precisely to the symbol or marking corresponding to the designated numeral, i.e., at the hour.
   not-comparable
2. Used to indicate that it is time to do a specific action, or time for a specific action to occur.
   humorous, informal, not-comparable
3. In conjunction with a numeral, indicates the direction, relative to the speaker or a vehicle, especially an aircraft, corresponding to the direction the hour hand is pointing at the time corresponding to the numeral, with twelve representing directly ahead on a horizontal plane, or directly up on a vertical plane, and three being to the right on either.
   not-comparable, with-numeral

Equivalents

Examples

“We are expected to be there at six o'clock in the morning!”

“It is two o'clock.”

“What o'clock is it?”

“I say, Watson, what o'clock is it?”

“By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.”

“Shortly before five o'clock in the afternoon of Thursday, April 12, 1945, after the Senate adjourned, I went to the office of House Speaker Sam Rayburn. I went there to get an agreement between the Speaker and the Vice-President on certain legislation and to discuss the domestic and world situation generally. As I entered, the Speaker told me that Steve Early, the President's press secretary, had just telephoned, requesting me to call the White House.”

“I'm feeling peckish; I think it must be nearly dinner o'clock.”

“We're here at Waffle House, and it's waffles o'clock!”

We're here at Waffle House, and it's time to eat waffles.

“Hooray! Beer o'clock!”

“That same evening at tea-time — (I am sorry to have to introduce you to another eating-scene, but the hours in English households are usually marked by repasts. It is a daily calendar of feasts — breakfast o’clock, dinner o’clock, &c.,[…]).”

““My sister requires your attendance at supper o’clock this evening — no excuse accepted.””

““It's lunch o’clock. Wanna go out to eat?””

“It's at nine o'clock about two feet in from the edge of the branch. You need to know your "o'clocks" (nondigital) to spot birds.”

“Without moving your head, move your gaze upward to look at twelve o’clock. Now look down at six o’clock. Repeat three times, then blink several times, and rest with your eyes closed.”

“Thus, you could tell them to "look at three o'clock," or "look just off-center toward nine o'clock," and so forth. Alternatively, in some microscopes a thin black line appears to cut across the field of view”

“Three o'clock and nine o'clock would be at the outer right and outer left sides of the tree, respectively, and so on. The clock technique is a very helpful way for one bird watcher to direct others to a hard-to-spot perched bird.”

“At 1057 we were just over the islands and at 1100 the tail gunner reported flak at six o’clock, below.”

CEFR level