Watchnight
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A religious service involving a review of the past year and preparation for the year ahead participated in by Methodists and members of other Christian denominations which usually starts late on New Year's Eve and ends after midnight on New Year's Day; hence, the night that begins on December 31 and ends on January 1.
"Holonym: New Year's (holiday-time sense)"
- 2 A monthly or quarterly religious service participated in by Methodists which extended past midnight. historical
"The ſpiritual concerns, ſhall be managed by the preachers; who have ever appointed leaders, choſen ſtewards, and admitted members into, and expelled them, from the ſociety, conſulting their brethren the leaders and ſtewards, according to the rules before mentioned. The preachers alſo as hitherto, are to appoint love-feaſts, and watch-nights, and to vary the time and places of preaching, claſs-meeting, &c."
- 3 Any religious or spiritual vigil.
"To spend a whole night, from sunset to sunrise, in vigil, is locally reckoned as two "watchnights" (in Kekchi, yo'lec). On occasion when one "watchnight" is deemed sufficient, people go home to sleep after midnight. When a series of 13 "watchnights" are required, a full night vigil will normally only be observed for the final twelfth night."
- 4 A night watchman. Africa, West
"Next morning a flustered watchnight waited for Bill. 'What is this t'ing?' he indignantly demanded. 'In the night I sit watching, then Madam come and pour a bucket of water on me. Next a t'ief-man come. I fight him but he too strong and he take my bicycle ...[…][']"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Holonym: New Year's (holiday-time sense)"
Etymology
From watch + night.
Related phrases
More for "watchnight"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.