Word.ws English Dictionary

putting the clock back

putting the clock back is the present participle and gerund of put the clock back.

Meaning of put the clock back

Verb

put the clock back (third-person singular simple present puts the clock back, present participle putting the clock back, simple past and past participle put the clock back)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To change the time in a time zone to an earlier time, e.g. for the end of daylight saving time.
    • Don't forget that this Sunday we put the clocks back an hour.
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To put something back to the state it was in a previous era.
    • He wants to turn the clock back to the 1950s.

Questions about putting the clock back

What is putting the clock back the present participle and gerund of?
Putting the clock back is the present participle and gerund of put the clock back.

Words near putting the clock back in the dictionary

  1. putting the cabosh on
  2. putting the cart before the horse
  3. putting the case
  4. putting the cat among the pigeons
  5. putting the change on someone
  6. putting the clock back
  7. putting the clock forward
  8. putting the clocks back
  9. putting the cork back in the bottle
  10. putting the dead wood on
  11. putting the fear of God into

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: putting the clock back (page history and authors); put the clock back (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “putting the clock back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/putting_the_clock_back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.