watch

/ˈwɒt͡ʃ/

verb 11
noun 10
forms 8
phrases 15

verb11

•
to keep looking at someone or something for a while
- Watching the clock will not make time go faster.
- I'm tired of watching TV.
•
To 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.
•
To be wary or cautious of.
- You should watch that guy. He has a reputation for lying.
•
To attend to dangers to or regarding.
- Watch yourself when you talk to him.
- Watch what you say.
•
To mind, attend, or guard.
- Please watch my suitcase for a minute.
- He has to watch the kids that afternoon.
•
To be vigilant or on one's guard.
- For some must watch, while some must sleep: So runs the world away.
To act as a lookout.
•
To 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. — 1687
To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
(no longer used) To be awake.
•
(no longer used) To 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. — 1789

noun10

•
A portable or wearable timepiece.
- 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.
- All the long night their mournful watch they keep. — 1717
•
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. — 2004
•
A person or group of people who guard.
- The watch stopped the travelers at the city gates.
A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
•
A particular time period when guarding is kept.
- The second watch of the night began at midnight.
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 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. — 1603
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.
•
(rare) A group of nightingales.
- sirens were singing like a watch of nightingales — 1921

forms

watch'd · watched · watcht · watchedst · watching · watches · watcheth · watchest

Phrases with watch