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WATCHMAN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A guard who keeps watch
Synonyms:
security guard; watcher; watchman
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("watchman" is a kind of...):
guard (a person who keeps watch over something or someone)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "watchman"):
bank guard (a security guard at a bank)
fire watcher ((during World War II in Britain) someone whose duty was to watch for fires caused by bombs dropped from the air)
lookout; lookout man; picket; scout; sentinel; sentry; spotter; watch (a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event)
night watchman (a watchman who works during the night)
patroller (someone on patrol duty; an individual or a member of a group that patrols an area)
port watcher; portwatcher (a watchman on a wharf)
Holonyms ("watchman" is a member of...):
private security force; security force (a privately employed group hired to protect the security of a business or industry)
Context examples:
The ship was talking, as sailors say, loudly, treading the innumerable ripples with an incessant weltering splash; and until I got my eye above the window-sill I could not comprehend why the watchmen had taken no alarm.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
So conscious was the manager of the responsibility which devolved upon him in consequence of the great interests at stake that safes of the very latest construction have been employed, and an armed watchman has been left day and night in the building.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
There were the two watchmen, sure enough: red-cap on his back, as stiff as a handspike, with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix and his teeth showing through his open lips; Israel Hands propped against the bulwarks, his chin on his chest, his hands lying open before him on the deck, his face as white, under its tan, as a tallow candle.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
There could be no doubt that Beddington had obtained entrance by pretending that he had left something behind him, and having murdered the watchman, rapidly rifled the large safe, and then made off with his booty.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
