Around the clock means all day and all night without stopping. Twenty-four hours, and then the next twenty-four.
It describes work, care and services, so around-the-clock nursing and working around the clock are both standard, and the hyphenated form goes before a noun. It nearly always signals either an emergency or real dedication. British English also says round the clock, which means exactly the same. Twenty-four hour and nonstop are the plainer alternatives.
1phrasearound the clockContinuously, day and night.
“The team worked around the clock to reopen the line.”
Practised in Idioms, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 34 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word