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English
[edit]English Wikipedia has an article on:watch (disambiguation)Wikipedia English Wikipedia has an article on:watchWikipedia A pocketwatch (timepiece)A wristwatch (timepiece)
Pronunciation
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(Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈwɒt͡ʃ/
Audio (UK):
(file)
(dialects of the US) IPA(key): /ˈwɔt͡ʃ/
(General American,cot–caught merger, dialects of Canada) IPA(key): /ˈwɑt͡ʃ/
Audio (US):
(file)
(Canada, dialects of the US) IPA(key): /ˈwɒt͡ʃ/
(General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈwɔt͡ʃ/
(New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈwɒt͡ʃ/, [ˈwɔ̟t͡ʃ]
Rhymes: -ɒtʃ
Etymology 1
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As a noun, from Middle Englishwacche, from Old Englishwæċċe. See below for verb form.
Noun
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watch (plural watches)
A portable or wearable timepiece. Hypernyms:timepiece < deviceHyponyms:wristwatch, pocket watch, fob watch, stopwatch, quartz watch, smartwatch, digital watch, analogue watch, analog watch, duplex watch, mystery watchMeronyms:watch face, watch receiver, watchspring, watch battery, watchstrap, watch strap, watchbandCoordinate term:clockMore 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.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.
The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost.[…], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker[…]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter[…]; [a]nd Matthias Walker,[…], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books:[…], London: Basil Montagu Pickering[…], 1873, →OCLC:shepherds keeping watch by night
1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses:All the long night their mournful watch they keep.
A particular time period when guarding is kept. The second watch of the night began at midnight.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:I did stand my watch upon the hill.
1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634:[…] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson,[…], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus:[…] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:Might we but hear […] Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock Count the night watches to his feathery dames.
1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 30:In the evening a tremendous thunder storm, accompanied by wind and rain. It is my watch and I find it a terrible time to act as sentry.
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.
A person or group of people who guard. The watch stopped the travelers at the city gates.
1611, The Holy Bible,[…] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker,[…], →OCLC, Matthew 27:65:Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
c.1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:He upbraids Iago, that he made him Brave me upon the watch.
(nautical) A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
(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).
The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
2004, Charles P. Nemeth, Criminal law: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.
2016 August 11, Andrew Bullock, “David Brent REVIEW: Life on the Road goes from painfully funny to just plain painful. Ouch”, in Sunday Express:The first third of the film is laugh after laugh; […] But half an hour in and this movie gets unnervingly dark and is an uncomfortable watch at times.
Derived terms
[edit] Terms derived from the noun “watch”
analogue watch
digital watch
dog watch
duplex watch
end of watch
fire watch
first watch
fob watch
graveyard watch
hurricane watch
keep a close watch
keep a watch out
keep watch
lie like a cheap watch
listening watch
middle watch
mystery watch
my watch has ended
night watch
on one's watch
on the watch
on watch
Paley's watch
pocket watch
quartz watch
set one's watch back
set one's watch by someone
skeleton watch
smartwatch
stand watch
stopwatch
suicide watch
time-watch
time you got a watch
tornado watch
turnip watch
watch and watch
watch battery
watch bill
watch cap
watchchain
watch charm
watch circle
watch-coat, watchcoat
watch face
watch glass
watch gun
watchhouse
watch in two
watch-jobber
watch meeting
watch night
watch of the night
watch one's back
watch paper
watch party
watch pocket
watch receiver
watch-seal
watch someone's back
watchspring
watchstrap, watch strap
watch tackle
watch timing machine
wristwatch
Descendants
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→ Atong (India): wach / ৱাচ
→ Unami: wach
Translations
[edit] portable or wearable timepiece — see also wristwatch, pocket watch
Afrikaans: horlosie (af)
Albanian: orë (sq)f, orë doref, sahat (sq)m
Arabic: سَاعَة (ar)f(sāʕa) Moroccan Arabic: مݣانةf(magāna) North Levantine Arabic: ساعةf(sāʕa, sēʕa) Tunisian Arabic: منڨالة(mungāla)
Italian: personale di guardiam, personale di sorveglianzam, personale di turnom
Polish: wachta (pl)f
Portuguese: quarto (pt)m, quarto de serviçom
Russian: ва́хта (ru)f(váxta)
Swedish: vakt (sv)c
Ukrainian: ва́хта (uk)(váxta)
period of time on duty
Bulgarian: ва́хта (bg)f(váhta)
Catalan: guàrdia (ca)f
Finnish: vahti (fi)
Greek: βάρδια (el)f(várdia)
Italian: guardia (it)f
Māori: tiakanga
Norwegian: Bokmål: vakt (no)m or f
Polish: wachta (pl)f
Portuguese: turno (pt)m
Russian: ва́хта (ru)f(váxta)
Swedish: vakt (sv)c
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked
From Middle Englishwacchen, from Old Englishwæċċan, from Proto-West Germanic*wakkjan, from Proto-Germanic*wakjaną.
Verb
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watch (third-person singular simple present watches, present participle watching, simple past and past participle watched)
(ambitransitive) To look at, see, or view for a period of time. Watching the clock will not make time go faster.I'm tired of watching TV.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
(transitive) 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.
(transitive) To mind, attend, or guard. Please watch my suitcase for a minute.He has to watch the kids that afternoon.
1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:[…] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […]”
(transitive) To be wary or cautious of. You should watch that guy. He has a reputation for lying.
(transitive) To attend to dangers to or regarding. watch your head; watch your stepWatch yourself when you talk to him.Watch what you say.
(intransitive) To remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil.
1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 30:At the funeralls in Yorkeshire, to this day, they continue the custome of watching & sitting-up all night till the body is interred.
(intransitive) To be vigilant or on one's guard. For some must watch, while some must sleep: So runs the world away.
(intransitive) To act as a lookout.
(nautical, of a buoy) To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
(obsolete, intransitive) To be awake.
1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:So on the morne Sir Trystram, Sir Gareth and Sir Dynadan arose early and went unto Sir Palomydes chambir, and there they founde hym faste aslepe, for he had all nyght wacched […]
(transitive, obsolete) To be on the lookout for; to wait for expectantly.
1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 80:[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.
Usage notes
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When used transitively to mean look at something, there is an implication that the direct object is something which is capable of changing.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of watch
infinitive
(to) watch
present tense
past tense
1st-person singular
watch
watched
2nd-person singular
watch, watchest†
watched, watchedst†
3rd-person singular
watches, watcheth†
watched
plural
watch
subjunctive
watch
watched
imperative
watch
—
participles
watching
watched
† Archaic or obsolete.
Antonyms
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ignore
Derived terms
[edit] Terms derived from the verb "watch"
bewatch
binge-watch
clock-watch
clock-watcher
cock watch
hate-watch
like nobody's watching
must watch
people-watch
time watch
watch and act
watch and wait
watch and ward
watch-birth
watched toast never burns
watch grass grow
watch it
watch like a hawk
watchman
watch one's ass
watch one's back
watch one's language
watch one's mouth
watch one's step
watch one's tongue
watch out
watch over
watch paint dry
watch the birdie
watch the feathers fly
watch the fur fly
watch the pennies
watch the world burn
watch the world go by
watch this space
watchtower
whale watch
who watches the watchers
Descendants
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→ Japanese: ヲチ
→ Spanish: guachar
Translations
[edit] to look at for a period of time — see also gaze
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked
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