Clock out
Clock out turns up in 2 fields: shop slang, electronics. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Clock out in shop slang
To officially record the end of a work shift using a timecard, biometric scanner, or digital tracking system.
The administrative act of logging one's departure time to halt the accumulation of billable hours or payroll time. This action signals that a worker is officially off duty and no longer covered by active shift insurance or liability protocols. Failing to perform this step often requires supervisors to manually reconcile payroll records the next day.
"Make sure you sweep the bay and secure the oxy tanks before you clock out for the weekend."
Clock out in electronics
To shift data bits out of a register or interface one by one using a clock signal.
To clock out data means to drive a serial data line by pulsing a clock pin, forcing a shift register or peripheral to transmit its next bit on each pulse. It is the fundamental action for serial protocols like SPI or I2C, where the master device explicitly controls the timing of the data transfer.
"You need to clock out all 16 bits before you pull the latch pin high."