What does "dogwatch" mean?

Aboard a ship, either of the two short two-hour watches that take place between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

What is a synonym for "dogwatch"?

Common synonyms include: anchor watch, bit, day shift, full time, graveyard shift, half time.

Pronounced //ˈdɒɡwɒt͡ʃ//.

//ˈdɒɡwɒt͡ʃ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Aboard a ship, either of the two short two-hour watches that take place between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
"[…] in the last dog-watch when the drawing near of twilight induced revery […]"
2
either of two short watches: from 4-6 pm or 6-8 pm wordnet
3
A night shift, or other very late or early period of duty. broadly
"The girls we knew were all on the dogwatch, from four to twelve in the morning."
4
A very brief period of naval service.
"At that time, Captain Thomas G. Peyton, U.S. Navy, who had only served a dog watch as Captain of the Port at Noumea, New Caledonia, reported for this important billet."

"[…] in the last dog-watch when the drawing near of twilight induced revery […]"

From dog + watch, perhaps a calque of German Hundewache.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.