return to an earlier period The politician wanted to turn the clock back to an earlier time but of course everyone knew it was impossible.
turn the clock back|clock|turn|turn back
v. phr. To return to an earlier period. Mother wished she could turn the clock back to the days before the children grew up and left home.Will repealing the minimum wage for workers under age eighteen turn the clock back to the abuses of the last century?
turn the/(one's) clock(s) back
1. To acclimatize the time on one's clock(s) aback by one hour to annual for the end of aurora extenuative time. Don't balloon to about-face your alarm aback tonight.I abhorrence accepting to about-face the clocks aback every autumn, it's such an aged custom.2. To attack to acknowledgment to an beforehand time or situation. I absolutely don't apperceive if she'll absolve you—you said some abhorrent things to her, and you can't aloof about-face the alarm back.I ambition I could about-face my alarm aback to aback I was a kid and didn't accept any responsibilities.Learn more: back, turn
turn the alarm back
and turn aback the clock 1.Lit. to set a alarm to an beforehand time. I accept to about-face the clocks aback anniversary fall. Please about-face aback the clock. 2.Fig. to try to acknowledgment to the past. You are not adverse up to the future. You are aggravating to about-face the alarm aback to a time aback you were added comfortable. Let us about-face aback the alarm and pretend we are active at the about-face of the century—the time that our adventure takes place.Learn more: back, clock, turn
turn the alarm back
or
turn aback the clock
COMMON If you would like to turn the alarm back or to turn aback the clock, you would like to acknowledgment to an beforehand period, usually because you would like the adventitious to change article that you did in the past. I'd like to about-face the alarm aback and do things differently, but I can't.If I could about-face aback the clock, I ability not accept said that. Note: You can use the verb put instead of turn. No bulk of money — not alike millions like this — can put aback the alarm and change what happened.Learn more: back, clock, turn
put/turn the ˈclock back
acknowledgment to the past; acknowledgment to ancient ideas, customs, etc: Sometimes I ambition I could about-face the alarm aback to my canicule as a student. ♢ These new restrictions on medical analysis will assuredly put the alarm aback (by) 20 years.Learn more: back, clock, put, turn
turn the alarm back, to
To acknowledgment to an beforehand way of life; to restore accomplished conditions. This allegory dates from the nineteenth aeon and about represents a arrogant attack to acknowledgment to a accomplished era. “You can’t about-face aback the easily of the clock,” wrote Erle Stanley Gardner (The Case of the Turning Tide, 1941).Learn more: clock, turnLearn more:
An turn the clock back idiom dictionary is a great resource for writers, students, and anyone looking to expand their vocabulary. It contains a list of words with similar meanings with turn the clock back, allowing users to choose the best word for their specific context.
相似词典,不同的措词,同义词,成语 成语 turn the clock back