watch

English Online Dictionary. What means watch‎? What does watch mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒt͡ʃ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔt͡ʃ/, /ˈwɑt͡ʃ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɒtʃ

Etymology 1

As a noun, from Middle English wacche, from Old English wæċċe. See below for verb form.

Noun

watch (plural watches)

1. A portable or wearable timepiece.
2. The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
3. A particular time period when guarding is kept.
4. 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.
5. A person or group of people who guard.
6. The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
7. (nautical) A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
8. (nautical) 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).
9. The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wacchen, from Old English wæċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *wakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *wakjaną.

Verb

watch (third-person singular simple present watches, present participle watching, simple past and past participle watched)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To look at, see, or view for a period of time.
2. (transitive) To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.

3. (transitive) To mind, attend, or guard.
4. (transitive) To be wary or cautious of.

5. (transitive) To attend to dangers to or regarding.

6. (intransitive) To remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil.
7. (intransitive) To be vigilant or on one's guard.

8. (intransitive) To act as a lookout.
9. (nautical, of a buoy) To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
10. (obsolete, intransitive) To be awake.
11. (transitive, obsolete) To be on the lookout for; to wait for expectantly.

Usage notes

• When used transitively to mean look at something, there is an implication that the direct object is something which is capable of changing.

Antonyms

• ignore

Derived terms

Translations

See also