Pl. watchmen. [f. WATCH sb. + MAN sb.]
1. A member of a military guard, a sentinel or sentry; a look-out posted to give warning of the approach of danger, etc. Obs. in technical use.
Now rare exc. in reminiscences from the Bible.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 5164. Be he þe pauylion a-prochid it past with-in euen, And sone þe wacche-men with-out quen þai him þare sawe, Þai tuke him.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11156. All the burgh is full bigge, ouer the brode wallis, Wacchemen for to wale, wacches to kepe.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IV. 225. The wachman was hewy fallen on sleipe; The bryg was doun.
1526. Tindale, Matt. xxvii. 66. They went and made the sepulcre sure with watchemen, and sealed the stone.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. xxi. 11. One of Seir cried vnto me: ‘watchman what hast thou espied by night?’ [1611 Watchman, what of the night?] Ibid., Ps. cxxvi. 1. Excepte the Lorde kepe the cite, the watchman waketh but in vayne.
1544. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VIII. 305. Item, the xxj day of Julii, deliverrit to the wachemen of the castell of Edinburght xxij s.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. iii. 18. Enter a Company of Soldiours. 1 Sol. … Walke, let’s see if other Watchmen Do heare what we do?
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, II. xx. 134. He goes to the walls, as with charge in the Kings name to the Watchmen, through all the watch-towers, that they should not … breake up the watch.
1680. Dryden, Span. Friar, I. i. Our Watchmen, from the Tow’rs, with longing Eyes Expect his swift Arrival.
1864. Skeat, trans. Uhland’s Poems, 203. So listen, ye youthful heroes, Mine excellent watchmen three; Here tender young girls may enter.
1913. J. H. Morrison, On Trail of Pioneers, xvii. 82. Every day the watchman climbed the tower, and gazed down the Cawnpore road for some sign of the relieving force.
b. transf. and fig.
a. 1500. Bernard, de cura rei fam., etc., II. 110. Þe wouff salbe wachmane and kep mony wayis.
1612. Sir J. Digbye, in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 579. Yt is fitt for us that stande as Watchemen to give warning one unto another … upon … all seeming dangers.
1655. Walton, Angler, x. (1661), 175. And in the morning … visit the water-side (but not too near) for they have a Watch-man.
1738. Wesley, Ps. CXXI. ii. Rest in Him, securely rest; Thy Watchman never sleeps.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 346. Nothing now hinders the visitation, which the watchmen, or prophets, had so long foreseen and forewarned of.
attrib. 1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xxvi. Sending the watchman cockatoo screaming aloft to alarm the flock.
† c. pl. Body-guard. Obs.
a. 1483. Liber Niger, in Househ. Ord. (1700), 38. Yeomen of the Crowne…. These were called the King’s Wachemen.
† 2. A scout, spy. Obs.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, clxv. 652. Whyles they were thus deuysynge together, the wache men came abought, whome the kyng had sent thether to spye and knowe if Peter … dyd sende to those prisoners any comforte or ayde.
† 3. One who keeps vigil, a watcher; one who watches over or guards a person or thing, a guardian (of something). Obs.
14[?]. Lydg., Lyke thyn Audience, 53 (Camb. MS.), in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 51. With wachemen wake, with sloggy folkes slepe.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys, Agnes, 295. More-ouyr goddys sone … To me is … A wecheman eek neuer slepyng.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., III. i. 66. Vnckles of Gloster, and of Winchester, The speciall Watch-men of our English Weale.
1596. J. Melvill, Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.), 362. The Watchmen and fathfull Pastours of the Kirk of Scotland.
1628. A. Leighton, Appeal to Parlt., 124. Removing the Dogges that should keepe and the watchmen that should watch the Flockes: so that they are left a prey to the Wolves and Foxes.
† b. Applied to angels. Cf. WATCHER f. Obs.
1552. Latimer, Serm., 25 Dec. (1584), 270 b. We are not bound to call vppon the aungels when wee heare that they serue vs, but rather to geue God thankes in them that he hath vouchsafed to set such watchmen about vs.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Dan. iv. 13. Beholde, a watcheman and an holy one came downe from heauen.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, I. vii. 31. And the Watch-men (so he [Scaliger] calleth the Angels out of Dan. 4) lusted and went astray after them.
4. One of a body of men formerly appointed to keep watch and ward in all towns from sunset to sunrise; later, a constable of the watch who, before the Police Act of 1839, patrolled the streets by night to safeguard life and property. Obs. exc. U.S. and Colonial.
14[?]. Leges Quatuor Burgorum, c. 81, in Sc. Acts, I. 349. Of ilke house … in þe quhilk þer wonnys ony þat in þe tym of wakyng aw of resoun to cum furth þar sal ane wachman be haldyn to cum furth quhen þat þe wakstaff gais fra dure to dure quha sal … gang til his wache [etc.].
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xxv. 93 (MS. Harl.). Plebeius … ordeynid for a lawe, that wacchemen shulde eche nyght go about þe cete, & visite eche house, þat þere was no misgouernayle þere in. Ibid., 95. In tyme of the nyght, when wacchemen come blowyng hir hornes.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. iii. 42. Why you speake like an ancient and most quiet watchman, for I cannot see how sleeping should offend.
1618. J. Taylor (Water P.), Pennyles Pilgr., B 4 b. A Watchmans bill, or a Welch-hooke falles not halfe so heauy vpon a man.
1681. Otway, Soldier’s Fort., V. (1687), 61. Watchmen at the door. Almost 4 a Clock and a dark cloudy morning.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, X. ii. Now thieves and ruffians are awake, and honest watchmen fast asleep.
1765. Goldsm., Ess., v. ¶ 4. The watchman had gone twelve; my companions had all stolen off.
1785. Cowper, Task, II. 654. [She who] at the watchman’s lantern borrowing light, Finds a cold bed her only comfort left.
1810. Sporting Mag., XXXV. 39. With the assistance of a watchman and some passengers, conveyed them to the watchhouse.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 251. When Monmouth arrived in London at midnight, the watchmen were ordered by the magistrates to proclaim the joyful event through the streets of the city.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. v. A face … that had just as much play of expression as a watchman’s rattle.
attrib. 1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xi. The policeman considers him [sc. the beadle] an imbecile civilian, a remnant of the barbarous watchmen-times.
5. A man employed to guard private property, a building, etc., while the owner, tenant or work-people are away, esp. during the night.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, III. 136. These shops are garded in the night season by certaine hired and armed watchmen.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Watchman’s Time-detector.
1876. ‘Mark Twain,’ Tom Sawyer, xv. He … walked boldly on board the boat, for he knew she was tenantless, except that there was a watchman, who always turned in and slept like a graven image.
6. The dor-beetle, Geotrupes stercorarius.
1864–5. J. G. Wood, Homes without H., viii. (1868), 155. The common Dor Beetle (Geotrupes vulgaris) sometimes called the Watchman or Clock. Ibid. (1883), in Good Words, Dec., 763/1. The Dor or Watchman Beetle.
7. Typog. (See quot.)
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Watchman, a little flag of paper placed pro tem. in matter as composed, which serves to indicate the position of a footnote.
Hence Watchmanly a. nonce-wd., belonging to or characteristic of a watchman. † Watchmanship, the office or function of a watchman.
a. 1603. J. Raynolds, Obadiah, iii. (1613), 35. Not content to bee watchmen in Jerusalem, but they must haue a watchmanship in Caesarea too.
1837. New Monthly Mag., LI. 116. Have they … taken away from ye that childish and yet watchmanly toy, the rattle?
