watch
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɒt͡ʃ/
ipa: /ˈwɔt͡ʃ/
ipa: /ˈwɑt͡ʃ/
ipa: /ˈwɔt͡ʃ/
rhymes: -ɒtʃ
Forms: form: watches
Etymology: As a noun, from Middle English wacche, from Old English wæċċe. See below for verb form.
Senses: examples: text: Meronyms: watch face, watch receiver, watchspring, watch battery, watchstrap, watch strap, watchband
text: More people today carry a watch on their wrists than in their pockets; some people today don't use a watch at all, because their smartphone serves the purpose well enough.
text: He set the alarm on his watch to 8:00 am.
text: Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
hypernyms: timepiece
<
device#Noun
coordinate_terms: clock#Noun
glosses: A portable or wearable timepiece.
examples: text: shepherds keeping watch by night
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: All the long night their mournful watch they keep.
ref: 1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses:
glosses: The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
examples: text: The second watch of the night began at midnight.
text: I did stand my watch upon the hill.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:
text: Might we but hear […]
 Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
 Count the night watches to his feathery dames.
ref: 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
english: Comus
translation: Comus
text: In the evening a tremendous thunder storm, accompanied by wind and rain. It is my watch and I find it a terrible time to act as sentry.
ref: 1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 30:
glosses: A particular time period when guarding is kept.
glosses: A period of wakefulness between the two sleeps of a biphasic sleep pattern (the dead sleep or first sleep and morning sleep or second sleep): the first waking.
examples: text: The watch stopped the travelers at the city gates.
text: Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 27:65:
glosses: A person or group of people who guard.
examples: text: He upbraids Iago, that he made him
 Brave me upon the watch.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
glosses: The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A period of time on duty, usually four hours in length; the officers and crew who tend the working of a vessel during the same watch. (FM 55–501).
examples: text: A quick watch of Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange sends this reality home fast. Amoral, vacuous, cold-blooded, unsympathetic, and chillingly evil describe only parts of the story.
ref: 2004, Charles P. Nemeth, Criminal law:
text: The first third of the film is laugh after laugh; […] But half an hour in and this movie gets unnervingly dark and is an uncomfortable watch at times.
ref: 2016 August 11, Andrew Bullock, “David Brent REVIEW: Life on the Road goes from painfully funny to just plain painful. Ouch”, in Sunday Express:
glosses: The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: analogue watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: digital watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: dog watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: duplex watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: end of watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: fire watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: first watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: fob watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: graveyard watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: hurricane watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: keep a close watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: keep a watch out
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: keep watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: lie like a cheap watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: listening watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: middle watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: mystery watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: my watch has ended
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: night watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: on one's watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: on the watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: on watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: Paley's watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: pocket watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: quartz watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: set one's watch back
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: set one's watch by someone
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: skeleton watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: smartwatch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: stand watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: stopwatch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: suicide watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: time-watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: time you got a watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: tornado watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch and watch
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch battery
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch bill
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch cap
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watchchain
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch charm
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch circle
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch-coat
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watchcoat
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch face
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch glass
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch gun
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watchhouse
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch in two
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch-jobber
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch meeting
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch night
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch of the night
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch one's back
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch paper
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch party
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch pocket
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch receiver
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch someone's back
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watchspring
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watchstrap
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch strap
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch tackle
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: watch timing machine
sense: Terms derived from the noun “watch”
word: wristwatch