forewatch

From fore- +‎ watch (verb).

forewatch (third-person singular simple present forewatches, present participle forewatching, simple past and past participle forewatched)

1. (transitive) To look out for; watch over
   • 1835, G. M., The Fall of Man and His Redemption:

     Ah! vanity is all to him who knows (Well warn'd by this!) his day's a fleeting cloud! —'Tis sacred wisdom to forewatch the close! To eye each hour—the Coffin and the Shroud!

   • 1908, Gerda Dalliba, An Earth Poem, and Other Poems:

     To learn, to know, how energies may pass / I would forewatch the waters near the moon / To spell the tidal change — and feel it chance [...]

   • 1968, Mark Van Doren, The autobiography of Mark Van Doren:

     The spring-tight coil of days unrolls for them, / Their little and deep long eyes forewatch the dead — / The mouse-eyed Fates can number the known times / He will remember this, the thing unsaid.

• forewatched

From fore- +‎ watch (noun).

forewatch (plural forewatches)

1. A foreward positioned guard or sentry; vanguard
   • 1972, Paul L. Maier, Pontius Pilate:

     The forewatch on the Trident called out, "Ho! Pharos ahead!" Straining his eyes, Pilate could see only a tiny blemish of luminous orange on the southeastern horizon.

   • 2012, Jeane Heimberger Candido, Shepherd's Song:

     It was the forewatch who spotted it first bearing down from the front. They were under attack!

2. An early watch
   • 1980, Mary B. Durant, Michael Harwood, On the Road With John James Audubon:

     Jason takes the forewatches — 6 to noon, 6 to midnight — and Jimmy takes the afterwatches.