name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A man set to watch: a man who keeps guard, especially one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night; (loosely) any such person of any sex or gender.

   "Near-synonyms: watcher, watchwoman"

2. 2
   a male guard who keeps watch wordnet

Proper Noun

1. 1
   A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms

security guardairplane spotterarguscharleyfire patrolmanfire warden

Example

More examples

"A watchman sat with his legs crossed."

Etymology

From Middle English waccheman. By surface analysis, watch + -man.

Related phrases

night watchmanwatchman's clockwatchman's detectorwatchman's rattlesecurity guard

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