Clepsydra

Clepsydra may refer to:

• Clepsydra (literally "water thief"), the Greek word for water clock. Also, in ancient Greece, a device for drawing liquids from vats too large to pour, which utilized the principles of air pressure to transport the liquid from one container to another.
• Clepsydra Geyser in the Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone
• Clepsydra, a genus of protists
• Clepsydra (band) a Neo-progressive rock band from Switzerland

From John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat: "Time is more complex near the sea than in any other place, for in addition to the circling of the sun and the turning of the seasons, the waves beat out the passage of time on the rocks and the tides rise and fall as a great clepsydra."