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

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

From Washington Times • Jun. 22, 2023

He championed the clocks as “a forgotten urban jewel” that tell time and are fanciful.

From Seattle Times • May 4, 2023

My grandparents were the ones who took care of me after school, who cooked me tomato egg with rice, who taught me how to count to 10 and how to tell time in Mandarin.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 9, 2023

He now uses a digital watch as he can't tell time using a clock face.

From BBC • Nov. 29, 2022

You couldn’t exactly tell time by that train, but it would be close enough.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns