clocks: n. Processor logic cycles, so called because each generally corresponds to one clock pulse in the processor's timing.

:clocks: n. Processor logic cycles, so called because each
generally corresponds to one clock pulse in the processor's timing.
The relative execution times of instructions on a machine are
usually discussed in clocks rather than absolute fractions of a
second; one good reason for this is that clock speeds for various
models of the machine may increase as technology improves, and it
is usually the relative times one is interested in when discussing
the instruction set. Compare {cycle}.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary

Related:

• clocks n. Processor logic cycles, so called because each generally corresponds to one clock pulse in the processor's timing.
  The relative execution times of instructions on a machine...
• cycle: 1. n. The basic unit of computation. What every hacker wants more of (noted hacker Bill Gosper describes himself as a "cycle junkie").
  One can describe an instruction as taking so many...
• cycle 1. n. The basic unit of computation. What every hacker wants more of (noted hacker Bill Gosper described himself as a "cycle junkie").
  One can describe an instruction as taking so many...
• bit bang: n. Transmission of data on a serial line,
  when accomplished by rapidly tweaking a single output...
• wall time: n. (also `wall clock time') 1. `Real world' time (what the clock on the wall shows),
  as opposed to the system clock's idea of time. ...
• bit bang n. Transmission of data on a serial line,
  when accomplished by rapidly tweaking a single output...
• PDP-10: [Programmed Data Processor model 10] n. The machine that made timesharing real.
  It looms large in hacker folklore because of its...
• PDP-10 n. [Programmed Data Processor model 10] The machine that made timesharing real.
  It looms large in hacker folklore because of its...
• fepped out: /fept owt/ adj. The Symbolics 3600 LISP Machine has a Front-End Processor called a `FEP' (compare sense 2 of {box}).
  When the main processor gets {wedged}, the FEP takes...