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.
One who watches, or those who watch; a watchman, or a body of watchmen; a sentry; a guard.
The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
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.
An allotted portion of time, usually four hour for standing watch, or being on deck ready for duty. Cf. Dogwatch.
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.
To be awake; to be or continue without sleep; to wake; to keep vigil.
To be attentive or vigilant; to give heed; to be on the lookout; to keep guard; to act as sentinel.
To remain awake with any one as nurse or attendant; to attend on the sick during the night; as, to watch with a man in a fever.
To tend; to guard; to have in keeping.
(1) one of the seven divisions of the nautical day; (2) one of two divisions of the seamen forming the ship's company.
a POST OR PERIOD OF DUTY. [E.G. Quarterdeck watch; phone; dempsey dumpster watch; after lookout sounding watch etc.
A six hour shift during which a group of men at their specific stations operate the ship. A watchstation is an individual's assignment during the watch.
A division of the ship's company who keep the deck for a certain time. One is called the starboard, and the other the port watch.
a period of time (4 or 2 hours) during which some of a ship's crew are on duty
a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
the period during which someone (especially a guard) is on duty
be vigilant, be on the lookout, be on one's guard, be careful; "Watch out for pickpockets!"
a portion of time assigned for continuous duty. Usually 4 hours on then 8 hours off. Watches on ships with reduced manning can be 6 hours on 6 hours off.
One of the six four-hour periods or shifts of work during a day on board a seagoing vessel.
a period of duty to which part of a boat's crew is assigned; also, crew members assigned for that period of duty.
The vigil kept at the Place of Reservation after the Maundy Thursday liturgy.
(1) a division of crew into shifts. (2) The time each watch has duty.
A ship's crew is divided into two watches, one of which sails the ship while the other is off-duty resting or sleeping. One is the starboard watch and the other the port watch. Each span of duty lasts 4 hours or 8 bells and is also called a watch. Ther is a middle watch, which lasts from midnight until 4 am. Then comes the early morning watch from 4 until 8 am, also called Diana, followed by the morning watch until noon. The afternoon watch is from midday until 4 pm. So that each group or watch does not always come on duty at the same time, the 4-8 pm watch is divided into two, which are called dog-watches.
A four-hour interval on a ship. For larger ships, the crewmembers on duty may change with the watch. (See Time on Dragonships.)
Any of the periods of duty into which the day is divided on a ship, so that the work is shared among alternating shifts of the crew
1) A division of crew into shifts. 2) The time each division of crew has duty.
the day at sea is divided into six four hour periods. Three groups of watchstanders are on duty for four hours and then off for eight, then back to duty. Seamen often work overtime during their off time.
A period of time during which a firefighter is assigned to the communications center desk or to other duties.
A watch is a period of work duty, traditionally on a ship but also in some other areas of employment which have been influenced by naval language. They are generally periods of four or two hours and are designed to allocate the working hours of a ship's crew so that the ship is operated effectively over all 24 hours of the day for the duration of long voyages or operations. Sometimes, especially on submarines, the watch schedule incorporates hot bunking to allow a limited number of beds to be shared by crewmembers with different downtimes.