What is "watch"

I.verbII.noun

Alarm \A*larm"\ ([.a]*l[aum]rm"), n. [F. alarme, It. all' arme to arms ! fr. L. arma, pl., arms. See Arms, and cf. Alarum.]

1. A summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy.

   Arming to answer in a night alarm.
   --Shak.

2. Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger; a warning sound to arouse attention; a warning of danger.

   Sound an alarm in my holy mountain.
   --Joel ii. 1.

3. A sudden attack; disturbance; broil. [R.] ``These home alarms.''
   --Shak.

   Thy palace fill with insults and alarms.
   --Pope.

4. Sudden surprise with fear or terror excited by apprehension of danger; in the military use, commonly, sudden apprehension of being attacked by surprise.

   Alarm and resentment spread throughout the camp.
   --Macaulay.

5. A mechanical contrivance for awaking persons from sleep, or rousing their attention; an alarum.

   Alarm bell, a bell that gives notice on danger.

   Alarm clock or watch, a clock or watch which can be so set as to ring or strike loudly at a prearranged hour, to wake from sleep, or excite attention.

   Alarm gauge, a contrivance attached to a steam boiler for showing when the pressure of steam is too high, or the water in the boiler too low.

   Alarm post, a place to which troops are to repair in case of an alarm.

   Syn: Fright; affright; terror; trepidation; apprehension; consternation; dismay; agitation; disquiet; disquietude.

   Usage: Alarm, Fright, Terror, Consternation. These words express different degrees of fear at the approach of danger. Fright is fear suddenly excited, producing confusion of the senses, and hence it is unreflecting. Alarm is the hurried agitation of feeling which springs from a sense of immediate and extreme exposure. Terror is agitating and excessive fear, which usually benumbs the faculties. Consternation is overwhelming fear, and carries a notion of powerlessness and amazement. Alarm agitates the feelings; terror disorders the understanding and affects the will; fright seizes on and confuses the sense; consternation takes possession of the soul, and subdues its faculties. See Apprehension.

Old English wæccan "keep watch, be awake," from Proto-Germanic *wakjan, from PIE *weg- (2) "to be strong, lively;" essentially the same word as Old English wacian "be or remain awake" (see wake (v.)); perhaps a Northumbrian form of it. Meaning "be vigilant" is from c.1200. That of "to guard (someone or some place), stand guard" is late 14c. Sense of "to observe, keep under observance" is mid-15c. Related: Watched; watching.

Old English wæcce "a watching, state of being or remaining awake, wakefulness;" also "act or practice of refraining from sleep for devotional or penitential purposes;" from wæccan (see watch (v.)). From c.1200 as "one of the periods into which the night is divided," in reference to ancient times translating Latin vigilia, Greek phylake, Hebrew ashmoreth.\n\nThe Hebrews divided the night into three watches, the Greeks usually into four (sometimes five), the Romans (followed by the Jews in New Testament times) into four. [OED]\n

\n\n
\nOn þis niht beð fowuer niht wecches: Biforen euen þe bilimpeð to children; Mid-niht ðe bilimpeð to frumberdligges; hanecrau þe bilimpeð þowuene men; morgewile to alde men.

[Trinity Homilies, c.1200]

\nFrom mid-13c. as "a shift of guard duty; an assignment as municipal watchman;" late 13c. as "person or group obligated to patrol a town (especially at night) to keep order, etc." Also in Middle English, "the practice of remaining awake at night for purposes of debauchery and dissipation;" hence wacches of wodnesse "late-night revels and debauchery." The alliterative combination watch and ward preserves the old distinction of watch for night-time municipal patrols and ward for guarding by day; in combination, they meant "continuous vigilance."\n

\nMilitary sense of "military guard, sentinel" is from late 14c. General sense of "careful observation, watchfulness, vigilance" is from late 14c.; to keep watch is from late 14c. Meaning "period of time in which a division of a ship's crew remains on deck" is from 1580s. The meaning "small timepiece" is from 1580s, developing from that of "a clock to wake up sleepers" (mid-15c.).

Etymology 1 n. A portable or wearable timepiece. Etymology 2

vb. (label en transitive) To look at, see, or view for a period of time.

1. n. a small portable timepiece [syn: ticker]

2. a period of time (4 or 2 hours) during which some of a ship's crew are on duty

3. a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe [syn: vigil]

4. the period during which someone (especially a guard) is on duty

5. a person employed to watch for something to happen [syn: lookout, lookout man, sentinel, sentry, spotter, scout, picket]

6. a devotional watch (especially on the eve of a religious festival) [syn: vigil]

1. v. look attentively; "watch a basketball game"

2. follow with the eyes or the mind; "Keep an eye on the baby, please!"; "The world is watching Sarajevo"; "She followed the men with the binoculars" [syn: observe, follow, watch over, keep an eye on]

3. see or watch; "view a show on television"; "This program will be seen all over the world"; "view an exhibition"; "Catch a show on Broadway"; "see a movie" [syn: view, see, catch, take in]

4. observe with attention; "They watched as the murderer was executed" [syn: look on]

5. be vigilant, be on the lookout, be on one's guard, be careful; "Watch out for pickpockets!" [syn: look out, watch out]

6. observe or determine by looking; "Watch how the dog chases the cats away"

7. find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort; "I want to see whether she speaks French"; "See whether it works"; "find out if he speaks Russian"; "Check whether the train leaves on time" [syn: determine, check, find out, see, ascertain, learn]

Watch is a studio album with several live tracks released in 1978 by Manfred Mann's Earth Band.

watch is a command-line tool, part of the Linux procps and procps-ng packages, that runs the specified command repeatedly and displays the results on standard output so you can watch it change over time. By default, the command is run every two seconds, although this is adjustable with the -n ''secs'' argument. Since the command is passed to sh -c, you may need to encase it in quotes for it to run correctly.

A watch is a timepiece that is made to be worn on a person.

Watch may also refer to:

Watch is the fourth and final album of the band Seatrain, recorded in 1973. It is marked with departure of Peter Rowan and Richard Greene (they formed band Muleskinner) and the use of more session musicians on instruments like vibraphone, cello, accordion, tuba and oboe.

A watch is a small timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep working despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn on a wrist, attached by a watch strap or other type of bracelet. A pocket watch is designed for a person to carry in a pocket.

Watches evolved in the 17th century from spring-powered clocks, which appeared as early as the 14th century. The first watches were strictly mechanical, driven by clockwork. As technology progressed, mechanical devices, used to control the speed of the watch, were largely superseded by vibrating quartz crystals that produce accurately timed electronic pulses. Some watches use radio clock technology to regularly correct the time. The first digital electronic watch was developed in 1970.

Most inexpensive and medium-priced watches, used mainly for timekeeping, are electronic watches with quartz movements. Expensive collectible watches, valued more for their elaborate craftsmanship, aesthetic appeal and glamorous design than for simple timekeeping, often have purely mechanical movements and are powered by springs, even though these movements are generally less accurate and more expensive than electronic ones. Various extra features, called " complications", such as moon-phase displays and the different types of tourbillon, are sometimes included. Modern watches often display the day, date, month and year, and electronic watches may have many other functions. Time-related features such as timers, chronographs and alarm functions are common. Some modern designs incorporate calculators, GPS and Bluetooth technology or have heart-rate monitoring capabilities. Watches incorporating GPS receivers use them not only to determine their position. They also receive and use time signals from the satellites, which make them essentially perfectly accurate timekeepers, even over long periods of time.

Developments in the 2010s include smartwatches, which are elaborate computer-like electronic devices designed to be worn on a wrist. They generally incorporate timekeeping functions, but these are only small fractions of what the watch can do.

The study of timekeeping is known as horology.

Watch is a 2001 documentary written, directed and produced by environmental activist Briana Waters, who is serving a six-year sentence for charges relating to the University of Washington firebombing incident. The film portrays the cooperation between residents of the Washington logging town, Randle, and Cascadia Defense Network activists attempting to stop the clearcutting of old growth trees on Watch mountain (part of the Cascade Mountain range) and along the nearby Fossil Creek. The film served as Waters' senior project at Evergreen State College.

Watch, also called WWW: Watch, is a 2010 novel written by Canadian novelist Robert J. Sawyer. It is the second installment in the WWW Trilogy and was preceded by Wake (2009) and followed by Wonder (2011).