/ˈwɒt͡ʃ/, /ˈwɔt͡ʃ/, /ˈwɑt͡ʃ/
OriginAs a noun, from Middle English wacche, from Old English wæċċe. See below for verb form.
- A portable or wearable timepiece.
“Meronyms: watch face, watch receiver, watchspring, watch battery, watchstrap, watch strap, watchband”
“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.”
“He set the alarm on his watch to 8:00 am.”
- The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
“shepherds keeping watch by night”
“All the long night their mournful watch they keep.”
- A particular time period when guarding is kept.
“The second watch of the night began at midnight.”
“I did stand my watch upon the hill.”
“Might we but hear […]
Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
Count the night watches to his feathery dames.” — Comus
- 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.
- A person or group of people who guard.
“The watch stopped the travelers at the city gates.”
“Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as ye can.”
- The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
“He upbraids Iago, that he made him
Brave me upon the watch.”
- A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
- 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).
- The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
“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.”
“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.”
- ambitransitiveTo look at, see, or view for a period of time.
“Watching the clock will not make time go faster.”
“I'm tired of watching TV.”
“It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore ca”
- transitiveTo observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.
“Watch this!”
“Put a little baking soda in some vinegar and watch what happens.”
- transitiveTo mind, attend, or guard.
“Please watch my suitcase for a minute.”
“He has to watch the kids that afternoon.”
“[…] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad br”
- transitiveTo be wary or cautious of.
“You should watch that guy. He has a reputation for lying.”
- transitiveTo attend to dangers to or regarding.
“watch your head; watch your step”
“Watch yourself when you talk to him.”
“Watch what you say.”
- intransitiveTo remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil.
“At the funeralls in Yorkeshire, to this day, they continue the custome of watching & sitting-up all night till the body is interred.”
- intransitiveTo be vigilant or on one's guard.
“For some must watch, while some must sleep: So runs the world away.”
- intransitiveTo act as a lookout.
- To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
- intransitive, obsoleteTo be awake.
“So on the morne Sir Trystram, Sir Gareth and Sir Dynadan arose early and went unto Sir Palomydes chambir, and there they founde hym faste aslepe, for he had all nyght wacched […]”
- obsolete, transitiveTo be on the lookout for; to wait for expectantly.
“[S]he had reason to dread that her husband had formed a very criminal project of being revenged on Zeluco, and watched an opportunity of putting it in execution.”
Formswatches(plural) · watches(present, singular, third-person) · watching(participle, present) · watched(participle, past) · watched(past) · watch(infinitive) · watch(first-person, present, singular) · watched(first-person, past, singular) · watch(present, second-person, singular) · watchest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · watched(past, second-person, singular) · watchedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · watcheth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · watched(past, singular, third-person) · watch(plural, present) · watched(past, plural) · watch(present, subjunctive) · watched(past, subjunctive) · watch(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past)