tell time

Idioms  

1. Keep track of the hours; also, know how to read a clock or watch. For example, This old clock still tells time quite accurately, or He taught his niece to tell time by using a cuckoo clock. This expression uses tell in the sense of “reckon” or “calculate,” a usage dating from about a.d. 1000.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tell time

For a product that could kill us before it learns to tell time, that’s quite a marketing choice.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

These humble devices, which surged into mass production in the first half of the 20th century, had two jobs: tell time and wake you up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

Combined, the two features helped the religious figures using the site to tell time more exactly.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 22, 2023

Students researched the phases of the moon, then used artwork and writing to create a book about moon phases and how to tell time with them.

From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2023

Now all I had to do was stop getting quarter past the hour and quarter to the hour confused and learn how to tell time properly.

From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge

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