wall clock

timekeeping computing

"Wall clocks" are common household items for displaying time and also have a specialized meaning in computing.

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Definition

A2Household

A device hung on a vertical surface to show the current time.

Example

The wall clock in the kitchen shows it's almost noon.
She glanced at the wall clock to check the time.

B2Computing

(technical)The total elapsed time from the start to the end of a process, including all delays.

Example

The wall clock time for the backup process was two hours.
Wall clock time includes periods when the system is waiting for resources.

Similar

Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "wall clock":

clock onto clock on atomic clock ticking clock bracket clock clock in wall time tell time on the clock keep time pulsar clock keep good time speaking clock stop someone's clock put the clock back biological clock time check pocket watch local time beat the clock milk the clock shot clock face that would stop a clock