To assign to a watch.n. The state of being awake; wake-fulness.n. A keeping awake for the purpose of attending, guarding, or preserving; attendance with out sleep; preservative or preventive vigilance; vigil.n. A wake. See wake, n., 2.n. Close, constant, observation; vigilant attention; careful, continued notice; supervision; vigilance; outlook: as, to be on the watch.n. A person, or number of persons, whose duty it is to watch over the persons, property, or interests of others; a watchman, or body of watchmen; a sentinel; a sentry; guard.n. The period of time during which one person or body of persons watch or stand sentinel, or the time from one relief of sentinels to another; hence, a division of the night, when the precautionary setting of a watch is most generally necessary; period of time; hour.n. Nautical:n. The period of time occupied by each part of a ship's crew alternately while on duty.n. A certain part of the officers and crew of a vessel who together attend to working her for an allotted time.n. Anything by which the progress of time is perceived and measured.n. A small portable timepiece or timekeeper that may be worn on the person, operated by power stored in a coiled spring, and capable of keeping time when held in any position. Watches were invented at Nüremberg about the be ginning of the sixteenth century, and for a long time the wearing of a watch was considered in some degree a mark or proof of gentility. Thus Malvolio remarks in anticipation of his great fortune:n. plural A name of the trumpetleaf, Sarracenia flava, probably alluding to the resemblance of the flowers to watches.n. In pottery, a trial piece of clay so placed in a kiln that it can be readily withdrawn to enable the workmen to judge by its appearance of the heat of the fire and the condition of the ware remaining in the saggars.n. In hawking, a company or flight, as of nightingales.To be awake; be or continue without sleep; keep vigil.To be attentive, circumspect, or vigilant; be closely observant; notice carefully; give heed.To act as a watchman, guard, sentinel, or the like; keep watch.To look forward with expectation; be expectant; seek opportunity; wait.To act as attendant or nurse on the sick by night; remain awake to give attendance, assistance, or the like: as, to watch with a patient in a fever.To float on the surface of the water: said of a buoy.To look with close attention at or on; keep carefully and constantly in view or supervision; keep a sharp lookout on or for; observe, notice, or regard with vigilance and care; keep an eye upon.To have in keeping; tend; guard; take care of.To look for; wait for.To take or detect by lying in wait; surprise.In falconry, to keep awake; keep from sleep, as a hawk, for the purpose of exhausting and taming it.
