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5 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]
Watch \Watch\ (w[o^]ch), n. [OE. wacche, AS. w[ae]cce, fr.
wacian to wake; akin to D. wacht, waak, G. wacht, wache.
[root]134. See Wake, v. i. ]
[1913 Webster]
1. The act of watching; forbearance of sleep; vigil; wakeful,
vigilant, or constantly observant attention; close
observation; guard; preservative or preventive vigilance;
formerly, a watching or guarding by night.
[1913 Webster]
Shepherds keeping watch by night. --Milton.
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All the long night their mournful watch they keep.
--Addison.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Watch was formerly distinguished from ward, the former
signifying a watching or guarding by night, and the
latter a watching, guarding, or protecting by day
Hence, they were not unfrequently used together,
especially in the phrase to keep watch and ward, to
denote continuous and uninterrupted vigilance or
protection, or both watching and guarding. This
distinction is now rarely recognized, watch being used
to signify a watching or guarding both by night and by
day, and ward, which is now rarely used, having simply
the meaning of guard, or protection, without reference
to time.
[1913 Webster]
Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and
ward. --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
Ward, guard, or custodia, is chiefly applied to
the daytime, in order to apprehend rioters, and
robbers on the highway . . . Watch, is properly
applicable to the night only, . . . and it begins
when ward ends, and ends when that begins.
--Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
2. One who watches, or those who watch; a watchman, or a body
of watchmen; a sentry; a guard.
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Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way,
make it as sure as ye can. --Matt. xxvii.
65.
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3. The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a
watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
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He upbraids Iago, that he made him
Brave me upon the watch. --Shak.
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4. The period of the night during which a person does duty as
a sentinel, or guard; the time from the placing of a
sentinel till his relief; hence, a division of the night.
[1913 Webster]
I did stand my watch upon the hill. --Shak.
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Might we but hear . . .
Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
Count the night watches to his feathery dames.
--Milton.
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5. A small timepiece, or chronometer, to be carried about the
person, the machinery of which is moved by a spring.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Watches are often distinguished by the kind of
escapement used, as an anchor watch, a lever watch,
a chronometer watch, etc. (see the Note under
Escapement, n., 3); also, by the kind of case, as a
gold or silver watch, an open-faced watch, a
hunting watch, or hunter, etc.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Naut.)
(a) An allotted portion of time, usually four hour for
standing watch, or being on deck ready for duty. Cf.
Dogwatch.
(b) That part, usually one half, of the officers and crew,
who together attend to the working of a vessel for an
allotted time, usually four hours. The watches are
designated as the port watch, and the starboard
watch.
[1913 Webster]
Anchor watch (Naut.), a detail of one or more men who keep
watch on deck when a vessel is at anchor.
To be on the watch, to be looking steadily for some event.
Watch and ward (Law), the charge or care of certain
officers to keep a watch by night and a guard by day in
towns, cities, and other districts, for the preservation
of the public peace. --Wharton. --Burrill.
Watch and watch (Naut.), the regular alternation in being
on watch and off watch of the two watches into which a
ship's crew is commonly divided.
Watch barrel, the brass box in a watch, containing the
mainspring.
Watch bell (Naut.), a bell struck when the half-hour glass
is run out, or at the end of each half hour. --Craig.
Watch bill (Naut.), a list of the officers and crew of a
ship as divided into watches, with their stations.
--Totten.
Watch case, the case, or outside covering, of a watch;
also, a case for holding a watch, or in which it is kept.
Watch chain. Same as watch guard, below.
Watch clock, a watchman's clock; see under Watchman.
Watch fire, a fire lighted at night, as a signal, or for
the use of a watch or guard.
Watch glass.
(a) A concavo-convex glass for covering the face, or dial,
of a watch; -- also called watch crystal.
(b) (Naut.) A half-hour glass used to measure the time of
a watch on deck.
Watch guard, a chain or cord by which a watch is attached
to the person.
Watch gun (Naut.), a gun sometimes fired on shipboard at 8
p. m., when the night watch begins.
Watch light, a low-burning lamp used by watchers at night;
formerly, a candle having a rush wick.
Watch night, The last night of the year; -- so called by
the Methodists, Moravians, and others, who observe it by
holding religious meetings lasting until after midnight.
Watch paper, an old-fashioned ornament for the inside of a
watch case, made of paper cut in some fanciful design, as
a vase with flowers, etc.
Watch tackle (Naut.), a small, handy purchase, consisting
of a tailed double block, and a single block with a hook.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]
Anchor \An"chor\ ([a^][ng]"k[~e]r), n. [OE. anker, AS. ancor,
oncer, L. ancora, sometimes spelt anchora, fr. Gr. 'a`gkyra,
akin to E. angle: cf. F. ancre. See Angle, n.]
1. A iron instrument which is attached to a ship by a cable
(rope or chain), and which, being cast overboard, lays
hold of the earth by a fluke or hook and thus retains the
ship in a particular station.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The common anchor consists of a straight bar called a
shank, having at one end a transverse bar called a
stock, above which is a ring for the cable, and at the
other end the crown, from which branch out two or more
arms with flukes, forming with the shank a suitable
angle to enter the ground.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Formerly the largest and strongest anchor was the sheet
anchor (hence, Fig., best hope or last refuge), called
also waist anchor. Now the bower and the sheet anchor
are usually alike. Then came the best bower and the
small bower (so called from being carried on the bows).
The stream anchor is one fourth the weight of the bower
anchor. Kedges or kedge anchors are light anchors used
in warping.
[1913 Webster]
2. Any instrument or contrivance serving a purpose like that
of a ship's anchor, as an arrangement of timber to hold a
dam fast; a contrivance to hold the end of a bridge cable,
or other similar part; a contrivance used by founders to
hold the core of a mold in place.
[1913 Webster]
3. Fig.: That which gives stability or security; that on
which we place dependence for safety.
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Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. --Heb.
vi. 19.
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4. (Her.) An emblem of hope.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Arch.)
(a) A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building
together.
(b) Carved work, somewhat resembling an anchor or
arrowhead; -- a part of the ornaments of certain
moldings. It is seen in the echinus, or egg-and-anchor
(called also egg-and-dart, egg-and-tongue)
ornament.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Zo["o]l.) One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain
sponges; also, one of the calcareous spinules of certain
Holothurians, as in species of Synapta.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Television) an achorman, anchorwoman, or
anchorperson.
[1913 Webster]
Anchor ice. See under Ice.
Anchor light See the vocabulary.
Anchor ring. (Math.) Same as Annulus, 2 (b).
Anchor shot See the vocabulary.
Anchor space See the vocabulary.
Anchor stock (Naut.), the crossbar at the top of the shank
at right angles to the arms.
Anchor watch See the vocabulary.
The anchor comes home, when it drags over the bottom as the
ship drifts.
Foul anchor, the anchor when it hooks, or is entangled
with, another anchor, or with a cable or wreck, or when
the slack cable entangled.
The anchor is acockbill, when it is suspended
perpendicularly from the cathead, ready to be let go.
The anchor is apeak, when the cable is drawn in so tight as
to bring to ship directly over it.
The anchor is atrip, or aweigh, when it is lifted out of
the ground.
The anchor is awash, when it is hove up to the surface of
the water.
At anchor, anchored.
To back an anchor, to increase the holding power by laying
down a small anchor ahead of that by which the ship rides,
with the cable fastened to the crown of the latter to
prevent its coming home.
To cast anchor, to drop or let go an anchor to keep a ship
at rest.
To cat the anchor, to hoist the anchor to the cathead and
pass the ring-stopper.
To fish the anchor, to hoist the flukes to their resting
place (called the bill-boards), and pass the shank
painter.
To weigh anchor, to heave or raise the anchor so as to sail
away.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]
Anchor watch \Anchor watch\ (Naut.)
A detail of one or more men who keep watch on deck at night
when a vessel is at anchor.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) : [ web1913 ]
Note: Watches are often distinguished by the kind of
escapement used, as an anchor watch, a lever watch,
a chronometer watch, etc. (see the Note under
Escapement, n., 3); also, by the kind of case, as a
gold or silver watch, an open-faced watch, a
hunting watch, or hunter, etc.
6. (Naut.)
(a) An allotted portion of time, usually four hour for
standing watch, or being on deck ready for duty. Cf.
Dogwatch.
(b) That part, usually one half, of the officers and crew,
who together attend to the working of a vessel for an
allotted time, usually four hours. The watches are
designated as the port watch, and the starboard
watch.
Anchor watch (Naut.), a detail of one or more men who keep
watch on deck when a vessel is at anchor.
To be on the watch, to be looking steadily for some event.
Watch and ward (Law), the charge or care of certain
officers to keep a watch by night and a guard by day in
towns, cities, and other districts, for the preservation
of the public peace. --Wharton. --Burrill.
Watch and watch (Naut.), the regular alternation in being
on watch and off watch of the two watches into which a
ship's crew is commonly divided.
Watch barrel, the brass box in a watch, containing the
mainspring.
Watch bell (Naut.), a bell struck when the half-hour glass
is run out, or at the end of each half hour. --Craig.
Watch bill (Naut.), a list of the officers and crew of a
ship as divided into watches, with their stations.
--Totten.
Watch case, the case, or outside covering, of a watch;
also, a case for holding a watch, or in which it is kept.
Watch chain. Same as watch guard, below.
Watch clock, a watchman's clock; see under Watchman.
Watch fire, a fire lighted at night, as a signal, or for
the use of a watch or guard.
Watch glass.
(a) A concavo-convex glass for covering the face, or dial,
of a watch; -- also called watch crystal.
(b) (Naut.) A half-hour glass used to measure the time of
a watch on deck.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) : [ web1913 ]
Anchor watch \Anchor watch\ (Naut.)
A detail of one or more men who keep watch on deck at night
when a vessel is at anchor.
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