ticking

An alarm ticking away means that time is passing slowly and quietly.

You often hear the word "ticking" when people talk about clocks or watches. Imagine you have to wait for something, like a train or a bus, and as the minutes go by, you start to feel impatient. In this situation, someone might say, "The clock is ticking," meaning that time is moving slowly but steadily towards the moment you've been waiting for. The word can also be used in a more general sense, like when people talk about how something is getting closer and closer, like deadlines or opportunities. For example, if you have an exam coming up, you might hear someone say, "The deadline for applying to college is ticking away," meaning that the time left to take action is running out quickly.