Regulate \Reg"u*late\ (-l[=a]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Regulated (-l[=a]`t[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Regulating.]

[L. regulatus, p. p. of regulare, fr. regula. See Regular.]

1. To adjust by rule, method, or established mode; to direct by rule or restriction; to subject to governing principles or laws.

The laws which regulate the successions of the seasons. --Macaulay.

The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes, and regulated their own police. --Bancroft.

2. To put in good order; as, to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances.

3. To adjust, or maintain, with respect to a desired rate, degree, or condition; as, to regulate the temperature of a room, the pressure of steam, the speed of a machine, etc.

To regulate a watch or clock, to adjust its rate of running so that it will keep approximately standard time.

Syn: To adjust; dispose; methodize; arrange; direct; order; rule; govern.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Beat \Beat\, n.

1. A stroke; a blow.

He, with a careless beat, Struck out the mute creation at a heat. --Dryden.

2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse.

3. (Mus.)
   (a) The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit.
   (b) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament.

4. (Acoustics & Mus.) A sudden swelling or re["e]nforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See Beat, v. i., 8.

5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat.

6. A place of habitual or frequent resort.

7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat. [Low]

Beat of drum (Mil.), a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc.

Beat of a watch, or clock, the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the strokes is at equal or unequal intervals.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Clock \Clock\, n. [AS. clucge bell; akin to D. klok clock, bell, G. glocke, Dan. klokke, Sw. klocka, Icel. klukka bell, LL. clocca, cloca (whence F. cloche); al perh. of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. clog bell, clock, W. cloch bell. Cf. Cloak.]

1. A machine for measuring time, indicating the hour and other divisions by means of hands moving on a dial plate. Its works are moved by a weight or a spring, and it is often so constructed as to tell the hour by the stroke of a hammer on a bell. It is not adapted, like the watch, to be carried on the person.

2. A watch, esp. one that strikes. [Obs.]

--Walton.

3. The striking of a clock. [Obs.]

--Dryden.

4. A figure or figured work on the ankle or side of a stocking. --Swift.

Note: The phrases what o'clock? it is nine o'clock, etc., are contracted from what of the clock? it is nine of the clock, etc.

Alarm clock. See under Alarm.

Astronomical clock.
   (a) A clock of superior construction, with a compensating pendulum, etc., to measure time with great accuracy, for use in astronomical observatories; -- called a regulator when used by watchmakers as a standard for regulating timepieces.
   (b) A clock with mechanism for indicating certain astronomical phenomena, as the phases of the moon, position of the sun in the ecliptic, equation of time, etc.

Electric clock.
   (a) A clock moved or regulated by electricity or electro-magnetism.
   (b) A clock connected with an electro-magnetic recording apparatus.

Ship's clock (Naut.), a clock arranged to strike from one to eight strokes, at half hourly intervals, marking the divisions of the ship's watches.

Sidereal clock, an astronomical clock regulated to keep sidereal time.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Clock \Clock\ (kl[o^]k), v. t. To ornament with figured work, as the side of a stocking.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Clock \Clock\, v. t. & i. To call, as a hen. See Cluck. [R.]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Clock \Clock\, n. (Zo["o]l.) A large beetle, esp. the European dung beetle (Scarab[ae]us stercorarius).

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)