sentry

[ sen-tree ]

noun

, plural sen·tries.

1. a soldier stationed at a place to stand guard and prevent the passage of unauthorized persons, watch for fires, etc., especially a sentinel stationed at a pass, gate, opening in a defense work, or the like.
2. a member of a guard or watch.

sentry

/ ˈsɛntrɪ /

noun

1. a soldier who guards or prevents unauthorized access to a place, keeps watch for danger, etc
2. the watch kept by a sentry

Word History and Origins

Origin of sentry¹

1605–15; short for sentrinel, variant of sentinel

Word History and Origins

Origin of sentry¹

C17: perhaps shortened from obsolete centrinel, C16 variant of sentinel

Example Sentences

Every evening, after their sentries locked them in, the men had watched keenly as two fellow officers faced each other across a table, built, like most of the furniture in the house, from disused packing crates.

From The Daily Beast

As it approached Memorial Bridge, and the historic cemetery came into view, another pair of ladder trucks stood sentry.

From Washington Post

Last Tuesday, Delhi deployed teachers from government schools to bird duty—to stand as sentries at border points and check for any illegal transportation of poultry into the city state, in the midst of a spreading outbreak of avian flu.

From Quartz

The immune system responds by producing antibodies to that protein, creating sentries against infection by the real virus.

From Washington Post

Of course you’d need to sabotage an encampment’s defenses, distract a few archers, and take out lonely sentries before charging in—you’re just one guy with a sword and a dream.

From Time

"You're a bunch of killers," a passerby told cops standing sentry there, according to one police source.

From The Daily Beast

We found that the Sentry safe which contained our footage had indeed been under water.

From The Daily Beast

I shared the sentiments of the Fatah sentry who allowed me inside the walls of the Muqata in Ramallah.

From The Daily Beast

Twice the mounted sentry at the gates was changed while I wandered up and down the asphalt walk.

From The Daily Beast

He looked up at the sentry towers dotting the campus as the bus entered Kirkland.

From The Daily Beast

But mindful of her fears, he dispatched one of the troopers to stand sentry outside her door whilst he and his lackey supped.

From Project Gutenberg

That door and that sentry were obstacles which Garnache saw the futility of attempting to overcome without aid.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a mere joke, the sentry saw nothing; and the stone passed harmlessly over them.

From Project Gutenberg

"It was by Marius's contrivance that he was placed sentry over the girl," he heard her tell Fortunio, and he thought she sneered.

From Project Gutenberg

The housekeeper stood sentry with the broom, and the worthy captains slept on for another half-hour.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• sentinel