| 释义 |
watchman|ˈwɒtʃmən|
Pl. watchmen.
[f. watch n. + man n.]
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.
a1400–50Wars 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. c1400Destr. Troy 11156 All the burgh is full bigge, ouer the brode wallis, Wacchemen for to wale, wacches to kepe. c1470Henry Wallace iv. 225 The wachman was hewy fallen on sleipe; The bryg was doun. 1526Tindale Matt. xxvii. 66 They went and made the sepulcre sure with watchemen, and sealed the stone. 1535Coverdale Isa. xxi. 11 One of Seir cried vnto me: ‘watchman what hast thou espied by night?’ [1611 Watch⁓man, what of the night?] ― Ps. cxxvi. 1 Excepte the Lorde kepe the cite, the watchman waketh but in vayne. 1544Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VIII. 305 Item, the xxj day of Julii, deliverrit to the wachemen of the castell of Edinburght xxij s. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. iii. 18 Enter a Company of Soldiours. 1 Sol... Walke, let's see if other Watchmen Do heare what we do? 1625K. Long tr. 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. 1680Dryden Span. Friar i. i, Our Watchmen, from the Tow'rs, with longing Eyes Expect his swift Arrival. 1864Skeat tr. Uhland's Poems 203 So listen, ye youthful heroes, Mine excellent watchmen three; Here tender young girls may enter. 1913J. 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.
a1500Bernard. de cura rei fam. etc. ii. 110 Þe wouff salbe wachmane and kep mony wayis. 1612Sir 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. 1655Walton Angler x. (1661) 175 And in the morning..visit the water-side (but not too near) for they have a Watch-man. 1738Wesley Ps. cxxi. ii, Rest in Him, securely rest; Thy Watchman never sleeps. 1860Pusey Min. Proph. 346 Nothing now hinders the visitation, which the watchmen, or prophets, had so long foreseen and forewarned of.
attrib.1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xxvi, Sending the watchman cockatoo screaming aloft to alarm the flock.
†c. pl. Body-guard. Obs.
a1483Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 38 Yeomen of the Crowne... These were called the King's Wachemen.
†2. A scout, spy. Obs.
a1533Ld. 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. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys, Agnes 295 More-ouyr goddys sone..To me is..A wecheman eek neuer slepyng. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. i. 66 Vnckles of Gloster, and of Winchester, The speciall Watch-men of our English Weale. 1596J. Melvill Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 362 The Watchmen and fathfull Pastours of the Kirk of Scotland. 1628A. 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.
1552Latimer 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. 1560Bible (Geneva) Dan. iv. 13 Beholde, a watcheman and an holy one came downe from heauen. 1613Purchas 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.
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.]. c1440Gesta 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. 1599Shakes. Much Ado iii. iii. 42 Why you speake like an ancient and most quiet watchman, for I can⁓not see how sleeping should offend. 1618J. Taylor (Water P.) Pennyles Pilgr. B 4 b, A Watchmans bill, or a Welch⁓hooke falles not halfe so heauy vpon a man. 1681Otway Soldier's Fort. v. (1687) 61 Watchmen at the door. Almost 4 a Clock and a dark cloudy morning. 1749Fielding Tom Jones x. ii, Now thieves and ruffians are awake, and honest watchmen fast asleep. 1765Goldsm. Ess. v. ⁋4 The watch⁓man had gone twelve; my companions had all stolen off. 1785Cowper Task ii. 654 [She who] at the watchman's lantern borrowing light, Finds a cold bed her only comfort left. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXV. 39 With the assistance of a watchman and some passengers, conveyed them to the watchhouse. 1849Macaulay 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. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. v, A face..that had just as much play of expression as a watchman's rattle.
attrib.1853Dickens 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 workpeople are away, esp. during the night.
1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 136 These shops are garded in the night season by certaine hired and armed watchmen. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Watchman's Time⁓detector. 1876‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer xv, He..walked boldly on board the boat, for he knew she was tenant⁓less, except that there was a watchman, who always turned in and slept like a graven image.
6. The dor-beetle, Geotrupes stercorarius.
1864–5J. G. Wood Homes without H. viii. (1868) 155 The common Dor Beetle (Geotrupes vulgaris) sometimes called the Watchman or Clock. 1883― in Good Words Dec. 763/1 The Dor or Watchman Beetle.
7. Typog. (See quot.)
1888Jacobi 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 ˈwatchmanly a. nonce-wd., belonging to or characteristic of a watchman. † ˈwatchmanship, the office or function of a watchman.
a1603J. Raynolds Obadiah iii. (1613) 35 Not content to bee watchmen in Jerusalem, but they must haue a watch⁓manship in Caesarea too. 1837New Monthly Mag. LI. 116 Have they..taken away from ye that childish and yet watch⁓manly toy, the rattle? |