watchman
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See also: Watchman
English
Etymology
From Middle English waccheman, equivalent to watch + -man.
Pronunciation
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
watchman (plural watchmen)
- One set to watch; a person who keeps guard, especially one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night.
- Synonym: watcher
- Hyponym: night watchman
- 1829, Edward Bulwer Lytton, chapter XVIII, in The Disowned:
- The visits of the watchman to that (then) obscure and ill-inhabited neighborhood were more regulated by his indolence than his duty; and Clarence knew that it would be in vain to listen for his cry or tarry for his assistance.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 8:
- Well, it so happened that Stine and the cook were sitting in their room one evening, mending and darning their things; it was near bedtime, for the watchman had already sung out "Ten o'clock," but somehow the darning and the sewing went on very slowly indeed[.]
- 1950 March, H. A. Vallance, “On Foot Across the Forth Bridge”, in Railway Magazine, page 149:
- Watchmen are stationed continuously at each end of the bridge, and the main spans are patrolled twice during the night.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
guard
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