water clock

noun

: an instrument designed to measure time by the fall or flow of a quantity of water

called also clepsydra

Examples of water clock in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The first sundials and water clocks were determined to have been used in 1200 B.C. by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 19 Aug. 2025 For example, Timothée could — nay, should: ➽ Get a pork tenderloin sandwich the size of your head ➽ Visit the Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library ➽ Peep the big water clock at the Children’s Museum ➽ Drive all the way down to Bloomington, IN and check out Tibetan Cultural Center. Bethy Squires, Vulture, 26 May 2025 His intricate water clocks and automata were not only practical but also visually appealing. Vibhas Ratanjee, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2025 Before time zones, people used other methods of telling time like sun dials and water clocks. Katie Wiseman, The Indianapolis Star, 8 Mar. 2024 The earliest Chinese water clocks were probably outflow devices and were known as louke. Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 25 Apr. 2023 Odell’s ideas gallop between twentieth-century time studies and ancient Chinese water clocks, Amazonian factory floors and Zoom rooms set adrift, mastery journals, Mojave poetry, second shifts, segregated leisure, Ice Age sea floors and present-day climate crisis. Gabriela Riccardi, Quartz, 22 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1601, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of water clock was in 1601

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Cite this Entry

“Water clock.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/water%20clock. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

Kids Definition

water clock

noun
: a device or machine for measuring time by the fall or flow of water

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