clock someone—
1. measure the time a person takes doing smth.:
- I doubt anyone will clock you on it. But if you’re selling your game you will be present at the booth a part of the day to promote it.
2. (Traffic Police) measure the speed of a passing car using radar gun (in order to detect speedsters):
- Stay out of this city if possible … the police will clock you for going 5 miles over the speed limit.
3. (U.S. sl.) hit a person:
- The guy behind me clocked me in the back of the head right as the ball hit my palm and I dropped it.
clock someone in—record smb.’s arrival for work:
- When I arrived at work, usually about 3:10 every day, someone had clocked me in at 3:00. Ten additional minutes each day gave me a little over $2.50 a month, which paid my bus fare.
Cf.: clock someone out— register smb.’s departure from work:
- His buddy clocked him out so it appeared that he worked a full day even though he never showed up.