Try to understand or pay attention to something. For Example: If someone said “wake up and smell the coffee,” they’re trying to get you to see things from their perspective.

Predictable or reliable. The statement implies that something will happen as sure as another second on the clock will tick by. For Example: If an employee is never late to work, her boss might compliment her by saying, “you are like clockwork when it comes to showing up to work on time.”

To recreate things as they were at an earlier time. For Example: If a couple is having some troubles in their relationship, one of them could say to the other, “let’s turn back the clock and just go back to when things were simpler.”

All day and all night. For Example: If someone were to say “I’ve been working round the clock,” they are saying they’ve been working non stop.

To avoid something. For Example: “I would recommend steering clear of that road, there’s a lot of construction going on right now.”