Wiktionary
adv. (context simile English) With perfect regularity and precision; faultless.
WordNet
adv. with regularity and precision; "the rocket launch went off like clockwork"
Wikipedia
"Like Clockwork" is a single by The Boomtown Rats. It was the band's first to reach the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 6.
Described as "simple, cool", in concerts supporting A Tonic for the Troops, the song's agitated, staccato bassline made it a common show opener. The B-side, "How Do You Do?" was a fast-paced punk/new-wave song, in the mould of the band's earlier work. However, the Irish version of the single, released on Mulligan Records, substituted the B-side with "D.U.N L.A.O.G.H.A.I.R.E", a tongue in cheek samba, discussing the spelling of the band's home town, written Dún Laoghaire but pronounced Dunleary. The latter was later released in the UK as a free flexi disc, distributed by Flexipop in January 1981.
Usage examples of "like clockwork".
Every other day a renowned acupressurist visited him, and once a week, like clockwork, his acupuncturist arrived to do his work.
Duff Mason's employ was just the ticket: it gave me the run of a splendid establishment, the best of meat and drink, a snug little bunk of my own, and nothing to do but bully menials, which I did with a hearty relish that terrified the brutes and made the place run like clockwork.
It all moves like clockwork, one event logically following the other.
KITTY RANNALDINI His much younger third wife who runs his life like clockwork.
Jack Twist's heists always ticked along like clockwork mechanisms.
Uncle Walt's artists have turned out, like clockwork, in the last twenty years.
They seemed to come most often the day after he had his nightmares which continued to possess him every ten or eleven days like clockwork.
When dust or dirt smudged his cheeks, when grease smeared his fingers, he did nothing to clean himself, just plodded like clockwork.
It was spread before her like a miniature scene, like clockwork figures on a table, lit by a soft, eerie radiance.
She kept him happy, I had my ration of her, and for the rest, Blowitz's arrangements went like clockwork: there he was every day, browsing at the Kaiserhof while I lunched at t'other side of the room, never a glance between us, and each picking up the other's tile when we left.