Adjacent Words

Watchman definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WATCHMAN, n. [watch and man.] A sentinel; a guard.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a guard who keeps watch [syn: watchman, watcher, security guard]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 15th century a person who keeps watch ; guard

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -men) 1 a man employed to look after an empty building etc. at night. 2 archaic or hist. a member of a night-watch.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Watchman Watch"man, n.; pl. Watchmen. 1. One set to watch; a person who keeps guard; a guard; a sentinel. 2. Specifically, one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night. Watchman beetle (Zo["o]l.), the European dor. Watchman's clock, a watchman's detector in which the apparatus for recording the times of visiting several stations is contained within a single clock. Watchman's detector, or Watchman's time detector, an apparatus for recording the time when a watchman visits a station on his rounds. Watchman's rattle, an instrument having at the end of a handle a revolving arm, which, by the action of a strong spring upon cogs, produces, when in motion, a loud, harsh, rattling sound.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(watchmen) A watchman is a person whose job is to guard a building or area. N-COUNT see also nightwatchman

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

woch'-man (tsopheh, shomer, metsappeh, notser): Used to designate a sentinel on the city walls (2Sa 18:25; 2Ki 9:18; Ps 127:1; Isa 62:6) or on the hilltops (Jer 31:6). So 3:3; 5:7 introduces another class, "the watchmen that go about the city," and thus, it would seem, points to some system of municipal police. The distinction in meaning between the various words is clear, tsopheh having the idea of "outlooker" and notser that of "careful watcher" (being applied even to besiegers from outside: Jer 4:16, "watchers"), while shomer also embraces the idea of "defending" or "guarding." In Isa 21:6 metsappeh is to be taken generally in the sense of "watch." In Sirach 37:14 skopos, means simply "looker."

W. M. Christie

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Guard, sentinel, picket, sentry, guardsman.

Moby Thesaurus

Argus, Charley, airplane spotter, fire patrolman, fire warden, fireguard, forward observer, lookout, lookout man, night watchman, patrol, patroller, patrolman, picket, roundsman, scout, sentinel, sentry, spotter, vedette, ward, watch, watcher, watchkeeper