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:
Dick ordered Edward and Glenn Juenke, the night watchman, to begin evacuating Bug House and two other cabins by the river.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026
They had also planted a watchman in the bank, Patrick Shevlin.
From Slate ● Dec. 28, 2023
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
The National Transportation Safety Board blamed Boylan for the tragedy, saying his failure to post a roving night watchman allowed the fire to quickly spread undetected, trapping the 33 passengers and one crew member below.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 24, 2023
The faint call of a watchman could be heard down Seventh Street, and a few stars hung still in the sky.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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
Some people had their own fire buckets - and those who could afford it paid insurance companies with watchmen to raise the alarm and crews to put out the fires.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2024
In Edinburgh, he impressed night watchmen by lighting his pipe with a streetlamp.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 24, 2023
One of the night watchmen is Cuban; so is the waitress at the usual lunch spot; the carpenter just showed up with two Cuban assistants; the salon has just added a Cuban hairdresser.
From New York Times ● Aug. 8, 2019
But late in the night the watchmen cried out, and all awoke.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
