Word.ws English Dictionary

set one's watch by someone

set one's watch by someone verb: to know the current time by observing a very punctual and reliable person going about their regular routine.

Verb

set one's watch by someone (third-person singular simple present sets one's watch by someone, present participle setting one's watch by someone, simple past and past participle set one's watch by someone)

  1. (idiomatic) To know the current time by observing a very punctual and reliable person going about their regular routine.

Forms of set one's watch by someone

third-person singular presentsets one's watch by someone
present participlesetting one's watch by someone
past participleset one's watch by someone
pastset one's watch by someone

Questions about set one's watch by someone

What does set one's watch by someone mean?
Set one's watch by someone means to know the current time by observing a very punctual and reliable person going about their regular routine.
What part of speech is set one's watch by someone?
Set one's watch by someone is a verb.
What is the past tense of set one's watch by someone?
The past tense of set one's watch by someone is set one's watch by someone.

Words near set one's watch by someone in the dictionary

  1. set one's heart upon
  2. set one's house in order
  3. set one's shoulder to the wheel
  4. set one's sights
  5. set one's watch back
  6. set one's watch by someone
  7. set onto
  8. set operation
  9. set operations
  10. set out
  11. set out one's stall

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: set one's watch by someone (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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