to set my alarm

5 1.4

Make your phone or clock ring at a chosen time to wake you

phrasal verb

: programar mi alarma

Before going to bed, I set my alarm so I wouldn't oversleep.
set my alarm clock
set my alarm last night
forgot to set my alarm

And I'll sit back here and eat, you know, smoke cigarette, watch TV and set my alarm, go to bed.

Examples

I must set my alarm for 7:00 to (barely) make it to work by 9:30.

Blog text (7)
I set my alarm for 7:00 and it didn't go off.

Malice (1993)
I am going to set my alarm early.
I forgot to set my alarm.

The Forge (2024)
I set my alarm for a reason.

Pep Squad (1998)
Yes, I do set my alarm at night.

Blog text (29)
I set my alarm for 3 a.m. EST, and I am glad that I did!

Blog text (24)
Then I set my alarm for eleven and took a nap.

Fiction book (1994)
5:30 A.M. on a Sunday, I have to set my alarm to make sure I am up.

Blog text (9)
I set my alarm for 9:55 and fell happily back into the pillows.

Fiction book (1999)

Antonyms

to turn off

631 1.3

To stop a machine or device from working with a switch

Surface Forms

set my alarm infinitive

set my alarm past

set my alarm past participle

setting my alarm present participle

sets my alarm third person singular

Morphology

set + mine + alarm

The meaning is directly compositional: 'set' (to prepare or program) + the possessive ('my') + 'alarm' (a signaling/waking device) clearly yields 'program my alarm to go off at a certain time.' This verb + object pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The phrase set my alarm comes from the simple action of choosing a time and moving the small alarm hand or pressing buttons so the alarm will ring then. That's why set + alarm means 'to make a clock or phone go off at a time you choose', usually 'to wake yourself up'.