Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A person who pays close attention to the passage of time and is often eager for the time to pass, as at work or school.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A person who is
eager fortime topass (e.g., at work or school), especially when faced with an undesirable task.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Quantity rather than quality becomes the criterion, the enjoyment is taken out of work itself, and the worker in his turn becomes a ‘clock-watcher’, concerned only when he will be able to escape to the scanty and monotonous leisure of industrial society, in which he ‘kills time’ by cramming in as much time-scheduled and mechanised enjoyment of cinema, radio and newspapers as his wage packet and his tiredness allow.
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Quantity rather than quality becomes the criterion, the enjoyment is taken out of work itself, and the worker in his turn becomes a ‘clock-watcher’, concerned only when he will be able to escape to the scanty and monotonous leisure of industrial society, in which he ‘kills time’ by cramming in as much time-scheduled and mechanised enjoyment of cinema, radio and newspapers as his wage packet and his tiredness allow.
2009 May 2009
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Our resident clock-watcher, senior writer Rob Melstein (ph), loves that daylight-savings time (sic) came earlier and ends later this year.
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The average clock-watcher is just that – AVERAGE – always knows exactly when to start packing it up so they can get out on time.
Think Progress » Right-Wing Peanut Gallery Hits Miers Hard 2005
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A clock suggests that you're hardworking and pay attention to small details unless, of course, you're a hopeless clock-watcher plotting your escape one nanosecond after 5 p.m.
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That's probably fine in a lot of ways, but it made me into a real clock-watcher, as if I weren't already.
Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine Bill Crider 2002
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That's probably fine in a lot of ways, but it made me into a real clock-watcher, as if I weren't already.
Archive 2002-08-25 Bill Crider 2002
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Stories unfolded in time, and I was a clock-watcher.
Incubus Arensberg, Ann, 1937- 1999
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He was no respecter of time, neither did he emulate his military colleague in being a clock-watcher.
Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons Wesel, Sennelager, Klingelputz, Ruhleben Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot
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At more than a foot wide and 7.5 inches deep, this is a perfect gadget for a clock-watcher.
Inventor Spot - Inventions, Innovations, and Interesting Ideas for the Inventor in All of Us 2009
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