The mechanical parts and mechanisms that make a clock function; also used to describe anything that operates with mechanical precision and regularity.
Compound of 'clock' (from Middle Dutch 'clocke' meaning bell, since early clocks only chimed the hours) and 'work' (mechanism). The phrase 'like clockwork' emerged in the 1600s when mechanical clocks became symbols of perfect, predictable operation. Before this, the most reliable thing people could reference was the sun's movement, so clockwork represented a new pinnacle of mechanical reliability.
When we say something runs 'like clockwork,' we're celebrating a 400-year-old technological marvel - mechanical clocks were the smartphones of their era, representing the absolute cutting edge of precision engineering! The phrase became so popular that 'clockwork' started meaning any perfectly regular system, from train schedules to daily routines.
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