| 释义 |
watchword|ˈwɒtʃwɜːd|
[watch n.]
1. Mil. A word or short phrase used as a password. Obs. in technical use.
c1400Destr. Troy 6056 Bisé was the buerne... The ost out of angur & auntur to were, Wacche wordes to wale, þat weghis might know. a1513Fabyan Chron. v. lxxxix. (1811) 66 Hengiste beynge mynded to execute his former purposed treason, shewyd his watche worde, by reason wherof anon the Brytons were slayne as shepe amonge woluys. 1538Elyot Dict., Tessera,..a watch worde or priuie token gyuen to souldiours. 1560in J. Scott Berwick-upon-Tweed (1888) 448 Any man that cometh to the watch hill and is by the officers to watch and thereupon hath the watchword given him. c1592in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1898) XIII. 513 Et les ditz comons auoient entre eux vne wacheworde en Englishe with whome haldes you et le respons fust with Kinge Richarde and the true comons. 1657North's Plutarch, Addit. Lives 45 (Tamberlain) Every evening the watch word was distributed, and each man was to repaire to his Quarters.
†b. = parole n. 2. Obs.
1760Cautions & Adv. to Officers of Army 132 At the Delivery of the Report you are to return the Parole, or Watch-Word, to the Commanding Officer by whispering it in his Ear.
†c. The call of a sentinel on his rounds. Obs.
1615G. Sandys Trav. i. 13 Since when, a watch-word euery minute of the night goeth about the wals, to testifie their vigilancie. 1756R. Rogers Jrnls. (1769) 18 We were so near the enemy as to hear their centry's watch-word. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xxvi, I have heard only the watch-word of the sentinels.
†2. A preconcerted signal to begin an attack.
1550W. Lynne Carion's Cron. 256 b, And then about midnight the watche worde was geuen that euery man shoulde be ready with his weapon. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 178 The kynge..came foorth..with a great bande of armed men cryinge in maner of a larome..Guazzauara, Guazzauara, which..is as it weare a watch worde to giue thonset. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 452 As a token or watche worde, they cried that the Frenchemen were vp in harnesse. 1583T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iv. 57 b, The Enemie discharged three Cannons for the Watch word, that the horsemen might get together. 1589Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 85 Democles seeing his time,..gaue the watchword, and the ambush leapt out. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 370 The common watchword was the tolling of the Bels to Even-song. 1834James J. Marston Hall ix, The name acted as a watchword, and the moment it was pronounced, a well-directed volley of stones was let fly.
†b. transf.
1593Shakes. Lucr. 370 Which giues the watch word to his hand ful soon, To draw the clowd that hides the siluer Moon. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 90 Take heed..of a false backe to the..furnace, hauing a loose bricke..that may bee taken awaie in an other Roome by a false Sinon that attendeth onely the Alchimistes hemme, or some other suchlike watch-worde. 1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. Pref. 25 The Witnesses are already risen in the late Reformation..that no watch-word may be taken to any Tumults from any such Indication of Time. 1793[Johnson] Consid. Coal in Scot. 25 Colliers..in the west country..have some watch-word, by sending round of which they can lay the whole collieries in the country idle.
3. A password used among members of the same sect, society, etc. ? Obs. exc. arch.
1534More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1170/1 After their holy watcheworde spoken on both the sydes, after the maner vsed in that place, the one toke the other by the tip of the finger..thorow the grate. 1696Whiston Theory of Earth ii. (1722) 214 A certain Watchword out of 500 pitch'd upon among certain Conspirators. 1809Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 168/2 Classical quotations are the watchwords of scholars, by which they distinguish each other from the ignorant and the illiterate. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn li, They meet in the most secret places, and have their watchwords.
b. A word or phrase used as embodying the guiding principle or rule of action of a party or individual.
1738Gentl. Mag. VIII. 292/2 Now I cannot help being of Opinion, that all the former Watch-words, were better chosen than theirs. 1780Cowper Table-T. 322 When the rude rabble's watch-word was—destroy, And blazing London seem'd a second Troy. 1832Tennyson Love thou thy Land 28 Nor deal in watch-words overmuch. 1844Macaulay Ess., Chatham (1897) 760 The watchwords of the new government were prerogative and purity. 1875Stubbs Const. Hist. I. x. 307 Again in a.d. 1127 his name was made the watch⁓word of a renewed struggle. 1876F. Harrison Choice of Bks. (1886) 7 Our stately Milton said in a passage which is one of the watchwords of the English race, ‘as good almost kill a man as kill a good book.’
†4. A cautionary word or speech; also, a premonitory sign, a warning event. Obs.
c1475Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 33, I took that for a watche word for medling betwixt lords. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 124 b, Geuyng a preatie watche woord that best were vtterly to abstein from matrimonie. 1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 19 He gave me this watchwurd in his own Chamber that it miht be thai ment to make me weri of the Hous. 1584[A. Munday] (title), A Watch-woord to Englande To beware of traytours and tretcherous practises [etc.]. a1639Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. iv. (1655) 197 The Ambassadours had a watchword given them, not to see nor salute him. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xix. 436 To welcome the Duke..he was entertain'd with prodigies..; as if Nature..made her hand to swerve, that she might shoot a warning-piece to these countreys, and give them a watch⁓word of the future calamities they were to expect. a1761[S. Haliburton & Hepburn] Mem. Magopico v. (ed. 2) 19 An arch wench..had smelled a rat about Magopico, and had given her lady a watch-word.
†b. to set a watchword upon: to utter a caveat against. Obs.
a1586Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) I, S. Paule himselfe, (who yet for the credite of Poets) alledgeth twise two Poets, & one of them by the name of a Prophet, setteth a watch⁓word vpon Philosophy, indeede vpon the abuse. |