biological clock
11
3.7
- noun
- /ˌbaɪəˈlɒdʒɪkəl klɒk/
- Specialized
:
reloj biológico
- Flying back and forth between time zones messes with their biological clock.
- the biological clock of mosquitoes
Fear of my biological clock is ticking and I need to find somebody.
- Fear of my biological clock is ticking and I need to find somebody.
- So even if they end up staying up later, it fits more with their biological clock.
- My my observation, David, is that the biological clock and the career clock are in total conflict with each other.
- Or they feel a sort of biological clock pressure or things like all my friends are getting married kind of pressure.
- Again, we have certain lifestyle factors there's that can disrupt some of these circadian rhythms, but do your best to live in tune and support your biological clock.
Examples
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Next issue is that your biological clock doesn't know anything about weekends, so try to go to bed and get up each day at the same time.
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Samantha's biological clock was ticking.
Fiction book (2002) -
For a really long time, I have thought very hard about the biological clock and how it affects people in their dating lives.
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Fear of my biological clock is ticking and I need to find somebody.
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The doctor did say that my biological clock is ticking.
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Well, remember, your biological clock is ticking.
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My biological clock is ticking.
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And ever since I hit the magic number thirty, I'm very aware that my biological clock is ticking.
Fiction book (1998) -
WOMAN: Your biological clock is ticking, and you can't turn it back.
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Hormone changes, stress, and the ticking of your biological clock can begin to take a toll on your skin.
Synonyms
5
6.1
A daily cycle inside the body that controls sleep and other body changes
1
5.6
Internal body timing that controls processes like sleep and cell division
Surface Forms
Morphology
biologic + clock
The meaning 'an internal timing mechanism in living things' is directly derivable from combining 'biological' (relating to life) with 'clock' (a timekeeping device), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the notion of an internal timekeeper. This compositional metaphor is cross-linguistically common and follows straightforward semantic composition, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Biological clock is a picture that says the body is like a small clock inside you that ticks and sets times for things like 'sleep' and body changes. That's why the phrase means an 'internal timing system' that controls when we sleep, get older, or release hormones.