watchman
Americannoun
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watchmen
plural
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a person who keeps guard over a building at night, to protect it from fire, vandals, or thieves.
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(formerly) a person who guards or patrols the streets at night.
noun
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a person employed to guard buildings or property
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(formerly) a man employed to patrol or guard the streets at night
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of watchman
late Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at watch, man
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At the time of the record destruction, which was revealed by a night watchman who saw it happening and saved some documents, UBS was under scrutiny for its wartime activities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
A night watchman alone would not make or break a new development, but this is one of many such provisions, often motivated by fire safety, that stack up in the code every three years.
From Slate ● Feb. 28, 2025
It was while working as a night watchman on a dive boat that Reginald was encouraged to venture into the water.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2023
Ms. Nechai was waiting at the launching point for boats as her husband paddled out to rescue a watchman who was stranded at the site.
From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2023
Each firehouse had a watchman who scanned the immediate neighborhood for flames or smoke during the night.
From "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy
In cellars and basements across the city, African-Americans hosted parties where white and black New Yorkers regularly shared the dance floor, imbibed together and sometimes got into fisticuffs that prompted the intervention of neighborhood watchmen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
It was those watchmen who came to the boathouse to report that they’d spotted a man in a waterproof jacket drag the Zodiac up the embankment.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025
For much of the next 12 years, soldiers and local watchmen patrolled the streets to ensure that shops remained open and penalize anyone they saw engaging in the usual festive excess.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024
Villagers should avoid letting children roam unsupervised in areas where wolves might be hiding and appoint night watchmen to patrol the streets.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2024
“The watchmen were only doing their duty,” the tall one began.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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