Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WATCH, v.i. [Sax. wacian, wæcan; Sw. väcka, upväcka; Dan. vækker; G. wachen; Russ. vetchayu.]

1. To be awake; to be or continue without sleep. I have two nights watch'd with you. – Shak.
2. To be attentive; to look with attention or steadiness. Watch and see when the man passes.
3. To look with expectation. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. – Ps. cxxx.
4. To keep guard; to act as sentinel; to look for danger. He gave signal to the minister that watch'd. – Milton.
5. To be attentive; to be vigilant in preparation for an event or trial, the time of whose arrival is uncertain. Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. – Matth. xxiv.
6. To be insidiously attentive; as, to watch for an opportunity to injure another.
7. To attend on the sick during the night; as, to watch with a man in a fever. To watch over, to be cautiously observant of; to inspect, superintend, and guard from error and danger. It is our duty constantly to watch over our own conduct and that of our children.

WATCH, v.t.

1. To guard; to have in keeping. Flaming ministers watch and tend their charge. – Milton.
2. To observe in ambush; to lie in wait for. Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him, and to slay him. 1 Sam. xix.
3. To tend; to guard. Paris watched the flocks in the groves of Ida. – Broome.
4. To observe in order to detect or prevent, or for some particular purpose; as, to watch a suspected person; to watch the progress of a bill in the legislature.

WATCH'ED, pp.

Guarded; observed with steady vigilance.

WATCH'ER, n.

1. One who sits up or continues awake; particularly, one who attends upon the sick during the night.
2. A diligent observer; as, an attentive watcher of the works of nature. [Not in use.] More.

WATCH'ET, a. [Sax. wæced, weak.]

Pale or light blue. Who stares in Germany at watchet eyes? – Dryden. [Not in use.]

WATCH'FUL, a.

Vigilant; attentive; careful to observe; observant; cautious. It has of before the thing to be regulated; as, to be watchful of one's behavior; told against, before the thing to be avoided; as, to be watchful against the growth of vicious habits. – Locke. Law.

WATCH'FUL-LY, adv.

Vigilantly; heedfully; with careful observation of the approach of evil, or attention to duty. – Boyle.

WATCH'FUL-NESS, n.

1. Vigilance; heedfulness; heed; suspicious attention; careful and diligent observation for the purpose of preventing or escaping danger, or of avoiding mistakes and misconduct.
2. Wakefulness; indisposition or inability to sleep. Watchfulness … often precedes too great sleepiness. – Arbuthnot.

WATCH'-GLASS, n. [watch and glass.]

1. In ships, a half hour glass, used to measure the time of a watch on deck.
2. A concave-convex glass for covering the face or dial of a watch.

WATCH'-HOUSE, n. [watch and house.]

A house in which a watch or guard is placed. – Gay.

WATCH'ING, n.

Wakefulness; inability to sleep. – Wiseman.

WATCH'ING, ppr.

Being awake; guarding; attending the sick; carefully observing.

WATCH-LIGHT, n. [watch and light.]

A candle with a rush wick. – Addison.

WATCH'MAK-ER, n. [watch and maker.]

One whose occupation is to make and repair watches.

WATCH-MAN, n. [watch and man.]

A sentinel; a guard. – Swift.

WATCH'TOW-ER, n. [watch and tower.]

A tower on which a sentinel is placed to watch for enemies or the approach of danger. – Bacon.

WATCH'WORD, n. [watch and word.]

The word given to sentinels, and to such as have occasion to visit the guards, used as a signal by which a friend is known from an enemy, or a person who has a right to pass the watch, from one who has not.

WA'TER, n. [wau'ter; Sax. wæter, wæs; D. water; G. wasser; Dan. vater; Sw. vatten; Goth. wato; Russ. voda. This may be from the root of wet, Gr. ὑετος, Sans. udum. In Ar. wadi signifies a stream, or the channel where water flows in winter, but which is dry in summer; a thing common on the plains of Syria and Arabia.]

1. A fluid, the most abundant and most necessary for living beings of any in nature, except air. Water when pure, is colorless, destitute of taste and smell, ponderous, transparent, and in a very small degree compressible. It is reposited in the earth in inexhaustible quantities, where it is preserved fresh and cool, and from which it issues in springs, which form streams and rivers. But the great reservoirs of water on the globe are the ocean, seas and lakes, which cover more than three fifths of its surface and from which it is raised by evaporation, and uniting with the air in the state of vapor, is wafted over the earth ready to be precipitated in the form of rain, snow or hail. Water by the abstraction or loss of heat, becomes solid or in other words, is converted into ice or snow; and by heat it is converted into steam, an elastic vapor, one of the most powerful agents in nature. Water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen; two volumes or measures of hydrogen gas and one of oxygen gas. The proportion of the ingredients in weight, is 89 parts of oxygen to 11 of hydrogen. – Lavoisier.
2. The ocean; a sea; a lake; a river; any great collection of water; as in the phrases, to go by water, to travel by water.
3. Urine; the animal liquor secreted by the kidneys and discharged from the bladder.
4. The color or luster of a diamond or pearl, sometimes perhaps of other precious stones; as, a diamond of the first water, that is, perfectly pure and transparent. Hence the figurative phrase, a man or a genius of the first wafer, that is, of the first excellence.
5. Water is a name given to several liquid substances or humors in animal bodies; as, the water of the pericardium, of dropsy, &c. – Cyc. Mineral waters, are those waters which are so impregnated with foreign ingredients, such as gaseous, sulphureous and saline substances, as to give them medicinal, or at least sensible properties. Most natural waters contain more or less of these foreign substances, but the proportion is generally too minute to affect the senses. – D. Olmsted. To hold water, to be sound or tight. [Obsolete or vulgar.] – L'Estrange.

WA'TER, v.i. [wau'ter.]

1. To shed water or liquid matter. His eyes began to water.
2. To get or take in water. The ship put into port to water. The mouth waters, a phrase denoting that a person has a longing desire.

WA'TER, v.t. [wau'ter.]

1. To irrigate; to overflow with water, or to wet with water; as, to water land. Showers water the earth.
2. To supply with water. The hilly lands of New England are remarkably well watered with rivers and rivulets.
3. To supply with water for drink; as, to water cattle and horses.
4. To diversify; to wet and calender; to give a wavy appearance to; as, to water silk.

WA'TER-AGE, n.

Money paid for transportation by water.

WA-TER-BEAR-ER, n. [water and bearer.]

In astronomy, a sign of the zodiac, called also Aquarius, from L. aqua, water.

WA-TER-BEAT-EN, a.

Beaten by water or the waves.

WA-TER-BEL-LOWS, n. [water and bellows.]

A machine for blowing air into a furnace, by means of a column of water falling through a vertical tube. – Cyc.

WA-TER-BORNE, a.

Borne by the water; floated; having water sufficient to float; as, ships water-borne by the flowing tide. – Sachet.