Wiktionary
n. Any clock that uses a pendulum to regulate its movement
WordNet
n. a clock regulated by a pendulum
Wikipedia
A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is a harmonic oscillator; it swings back and forth in a precise time interval dependent on its length, and resists swinging at other rates. From its invention in 1656 by Christiaan Huygens until the 1930s, the pendulum clock was the world's most precise timekeeper, accounting for its widespread use. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries pendulum clocks in homes, factories, offices and railroad stations served as primary time standards for scheduling daily life, work shifts, and public transportation, and their greater accuracy allowed the faster pace of life which was necessary for the Industrial Revolution.
Pendulum clocks must be stationary to operate; any motion or accelerations will affect the motion of the pendulum, causing inaccuracies, so other mechanisms must be used in portable timepieces. They are now kept mostly for their decorative and antique value.
Usage examples of "pendulum clock".
Didn't Hepzibah Whitlow have the idea of the adjustable pendulum clock as a result of his work as the public hangman?
One broke the chain which held the tiny glass-enclosed pendulum clock.
While Dad was out on business, and I was at school, she'd run back and forth, upstairs and down, checking to see if some beloved item (lamp, watercolor, pendulum clock, quilt, wine-colored crystal goblets, etc.
This period saw the invention of such fundamental instruments as the telescope, the microscope, the thermometer, the barometer, and the pendulum clock.
He glanced at the face of the antique pendulum clock at the foot of the stairs and saw it was past midnight.
Squares and rectangles slightly cleaner than the rest of the wall marked where framed pictures or documents had once hung, and there was an upside-down banjo shape where a pendulum clock had been.
The constant irregular rocking of the ship disrupts any pendulum clock, and the changing temperatures play havoc with lubricating oils, and the combination of heat, cold, moisture, and salt air destroys the integrity of metal springs.
In the quiet, she heard the tick-tock of the pendulum clock, and she suddenly realized something.