clock

n : a timepiece that shows the time of day

v : measure the time or duration of an event or action or the

person who performs an action in a certain period of

time; "he clocked the runners" [syn: {time}]

clock

A processor's clock or one {cycle} thereof. The relative

execution times of instructions on a computer are usually

measured by number of clock cycles rather than seconds. One

good reason for this is that {clock rate}s for various models

of the computer may increase as technology improves, and it is

usually the relative times one is interested in when

discussing the {instruction set}.

(1994-12-16)