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timepiece

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From time +‎ piece.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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timepiece (plural timepieces)

  1. A chronometer (any device used to tell the time of day), particularly a clock lacking a chime or similar sounding mechanism.
    The only timepiece she allowed in the house was a sundial. She usually kept the curtains pulled.
  2. A watch (a small portable device used to tell the time of day), particularly one lacking a chime or similar sounding mechanism.
    His pocket watch was a beautiful timepiece.
    • 2013, Stacy Perman, A Grand Complication: The Race to Build the World's Most Legendary Watch, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 143:
      The spring-driven clock introduced the truly movable timepiece and, with further innovations in miniaturization, the object that came to be called the watch.

Usage notes

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In informal use, the presence of piece in the term timepiece causes many speakers to exclude large timekeeping devices such as wallclocks and grandfather clocks. In formal use, some speakers—particularly professional horologists and collectors—use the word clock to refer only to timekeeping devices that include a bell, chimes, or other mechanism to announce the passage of time. The term timepiece is then restricted to timekeeping devices (large or small) that lack such a mechanism.

Translations

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