watch fire

noun

a fire maintained during the night as a signal and for providing light and warmth for guards.

Origin of watch fire

First recorded in 1795–1805

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for watch fire

Historical Examples of watch fire

The Arab figures and conversation round the watch-fire were romantic enough.
Byeways in Palestine
James Finn
The watch-fire is out to-night,—the first night in eight months.
The Master-Knot of Human Fate
Ellis Meredith
Your face has flitted out of my watch-fire, and then I have been a haunted man.
Anna the Adventuress
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Then there was but one red glare in the night, the watch-fire by the dûn.
The Washer of the Ford
Fiona Macleod
Southward, some one had evidently built a watch-fire on the beach.
The Open Boat and Other Stories
Stephen Crane

British Dictionary definitions for watch fire

watch fire

noun

a fire kept burning at night as a signal or for warmth and light by a person keeping watch

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012