horologe

English

Etymology

From Middle English orloge, from Norman oriloge, from Old French orloge, from Latin hōrologium (“sundial”), from Ancient Greek ὡρολόγιον (hōrológion). Cognate with French horloge, Italian orologio, and Spanish reloj. Doublet of Horologium and horologium.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɔɹəˌloʊd͡ʒ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɒrəlɒd͡ʒ/

Noun

horologe (plural horologes)

1. (archaic or historical) Synonym of sundial or clock, a device or mechanism used to tell the hour of the day.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     He'll watch the horologe a double set, If drink rock not his cradle.

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. II, Gospel of Mammonism”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker):

     A SOUL is not like wind (spiritus, or breath) contained within a capsule; the ALMIGHTY MAKER is not like a Clockmaker that once, in old immemorial ages, having made his Horologe of a Universe, sits ever since and sees it go! Not at all. Hence comes Atheism; come, as we say, many other isms […]

   • 2007, John North, God's Clockmaker, page 167:

     The custodian of the horologe at Ely (1291) was paid 3s. annually for looking after something, which cannot have been a trifling object, for many labourers would gladly have done a month's hard work for that sum.

Derived terms

• horologer

 

References

• “horologe”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.