1. to look or observe attentively or carefully; be closely observant: watching for trail markers.
2. to look and wait expectantly or in anticipation: watch for an opportunity.
3. to act as a spectator; look on: stood by the road and watched.
4. to stay awake at night while serving as a guard, sentinel, or watcher.
5. to stay alert as a devotional or religious exercise; keep vigil.
6. to look at steadily; observe carefully or continuously: watch a parade.
7. to keep a watchful eye on; guard: watched the prisoner all day.
8. to observe the course of mentally; keep up on or informed about: watch the price of gold.
9. to tend (a flock, for example). see synonyms at tend2.
10. the act or process of keeping awake or mentally alert, especially for the purpose of guarding.
11. the act of observing closely or the condition of being closely observed; surveillance.
12. A period of close observation, often in order to discover something: a watch during the child's illness.
13. A person or group of people serving, especially at night, to guard or protect.
14. the post or period of duty of a guard, sentinel, or watcher.
15. any of the periods into which the night is divided; a part of the night.
16. nautical any of the periods of time, usually four hours, into which the day aboard ship is divided and during which a part of the crew is assigned to duty.
17. nautical the members of a ship's crew on duty during a specific watch.
18. nautical A chronometer on a ship.
19. A period of wakefulness, especially one observed as a religious vigil.
20. A funeral wake.
21. A small portable timepiece, especially one worn on the wrist or carried in the pocket.
22. A flock of nightingales. see synonyms at flock1.
23. watch out to be careful or on the alert; take care.
24. watch over to be in charge of; superintend.
25. watch it to be careful: had to watch it when I stepped onto the ice.
26. watch (one's) step to act or proceed with care and caution.
27. watch (one's) step to behave as is demanded, required, or appropriate.

1. A portable or wearable timepiece.
2. A particular time period when guarding is kept.
3. A person or group of people who guard.
4. A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
5. A period of time on duty, usually four hours in length; the officers and crew who tend the working of a vessel during the same watch. (fm 55–501).
6. the act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
7. to be awake.
8. to look at, see, or view for a period of time.
9. to observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.
10. to mind, attend, or guard.
11. to be wary or cautious of.
12. to attend to dangers to or regarding.
13. to remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil
14. to be vigilant or on one's guard
15. to act as a lookout

1.
2. 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.
3. one who watches, or those who watch; a watchman, or a body of watchmen; a sentry; a guard.
4. the post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
5. 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.
6. A small timepiece, or chronometer, to be carried about the person, the machinery of which is moved by a spring.
7.
8. an allotted portion of time, usually four hour for standing watch, or being on deck ready for duty. cf. dogwatch.
9. 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.
10. to be awake; to be or continue without sleep; to wake; to keep vigil.
11. to be attentive or vigilant; to give heed; to be on the lookout; to keep guard; to act as sentinel.
12. to be expectant; to look with expectation; to wait; to seek opportunity.
13. to remain awake with any one as nurse or attendant; to attend on the sick during the night.
14. to serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place; -- said of a buoy.
15. to give heed to; to observe the actions or motions of, for any purpose; to keep in view; not to lose from sight and observation.
16. to tend; to guard; to have in keeping.

1. to assign to a watch.
2. to be awake; be or continue without sleep; keep vigil.
3. to be attentive, circumspect, or vigilant; be closely observant; notice carefully; give heed.
4. to act as a watchman, guard, sentinel, or the like; keep watch.
5. to look forward with expectation; be expectant; seek opportunity; wait.
6. 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.
7. to float on the surface of the water: said of a buoy.
8. 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.
9. to have in keeping; tend; guard; take care of.
10. to look for; wait for.
11. to take or detect by lying in wait; surprise.
12. in falconry, to keep awake; keep from sleep, as a hawk, for the purpose of exhausting and taming it.
13. the state of being awake; wake-fulness.
14. A keeping awake for the purpose of attending, guarding, or preserving; attendance with out sleep; preservative or preventive vigilance; vigil.
15. A wake. see wake, n., 2.
16. close, constant, observation; vigilant attention; careful, continued notice; supervision; vigilance; outlook: as, to be on the watch.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. nautical:
20. the period of time occupied by each part of a ship's crew alternately while on duty.
21. A certain part of the officers and crew of a vessel who together attend to working her for an allotted time.
22. anything by which the progress of time is perceived and measured.
23. 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:
24. plural A name of the trumpetleaf, Sarracenia flava, probably alluding to the resemblance of the flowers to watches.
25. 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.
26. in hawking, a company or flight, as of nightingales.

1. the rite of staying awake for devotional purposes (especially on the eve of a religious festival)
2. see or watch
3. a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
4. look attentively
5. be vigilant, be on the lookout or be careful
6. a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
7. the period during which someone (especially a guard) is on duty
8. follow with the eyes or the mind
9. observe or determine by looking
10. find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort
11. a period of time (4 or 2 hours) during which some of a ship's crew are on duty
12. observe with attention
13. a small portable timepiece