an early watch, esp. of the 16th- or 17th-cent., with an elaborate case; cf. German clock n.

= alarm watch n. at alarm, int. n.adv. compounds 2.

a watch or small clock; (sometimes spec.) a watch which strikes the hours or quarters as they occur, as contrasted with a repeating watch (cf. repe…

a watch which distinguishes minutes or has minutes marked on the dial.

a watch having a balance wheel (which oscillates like the pendulum of a clock).

Applied to a pocket time-piece regulated otherwise than by a balance-wheel and hair-spring.

a watch with a mechanism that can be adjusted to sound an alarm at a particular time set in advance; cf. earlier larum watch n. at larum, n.…

a very small timepiece in the form of a ring, designed to be worn on the finger.

? a watch having a string fitted to the fusee and barrel instead of a chain (cf. 9a above).

slang. Used allusively for ‘watch’ = pocket timepiece.

a watch indicating only the hours.

slang. A large old-fashioned watch. Cf. turnip, n. 3b.

= minute watch n.

As a modifier, designating a watch or other measuring instrument that incorporates jewels in its mechanism (see sense 4), as in jewel watch, etc…

spec. Criminals' slang. A gold watch, usually with its accessories (as seals, case, etc.). Obsolete.

A repeating watch or clock.

A Tompion clock or watch.

†(a) the coiled hairspring connected to the balance wheel of a watch (obsolete); (b) the spring from which the pendulum of a clock is suspended.

a timepiece indicating seconds.

a watch made in Geneva; a Swiss watch.

a watch with a cylinder or horizontal escapement.

a disc of paper, silk, or other material, inscribed or painted with an ornamental design, a picture, rhyme, or other device, inserted as a lining…

a watch set in a finger ring.

Watchmaking. attributive and in other combinations, as verge escapement, verge-file, verge hole, verge-maker, verge-pivot, verge spring, verge watch.

an apparatus for illuminating the face of a watch at night.

Nautical. In full hack watch (also chronometer). A watch or portable chronometer which is used in place of a ship's standard chronometer when…

An old-fashioned type of watch, with the case partly enclosing the glass. Also attributive. U.S.

a repeating watch or clock which strikes the quarter hours.

Slang term for an old-fashioned thick silver watch.

a watch having a hunting-case to protect the glass.

a repeating watch which sounds the minutes.

= hunting-watch n. at hunting, n. compounds 2.

a watch used in place of a chronometer when making observations; = hack watch (also chronometer) at hack, n.2 7.

= Geneva watch n. at sense 2.

= watch-paper n.

a watch made in such a way that the time can be determined by touch (often by the use of projecting pins or studs).

a watch which plays short tunes at regular intervals, as on the hour, etc.

Special applications. Short for lever watch n. at compounds 2.

Scottish. A watch; spec. a watch in a case, a turnip watch.

Watchmaking. elliptical. A verge watch (see sense 7c).

see quots.

(a) a keyless watch; (b) a geared logging locomotive (Webster, 1911); (c) slang a person or thing that is first-rate; also, an enterprising or…

see quot.

a small watch worn in a wristlet or strap around the wrist.

a large travelling watch of a type supposed to have been hung in sedan chairs.

A proprietary name for: a highly prized type of luxury watch.

a type of watch designed by Cartier of Paris, with a square or rectangular face and vertical side-panels aligned with a wide strap.

a watch attached to a chatelaine.

= sedan-chair clock n. at sedan chair, n. compounds.

a watch in which a quartz crystal is employed as in a quartz clock.

Also with capital initial. A type of digital wristwatch having a light-emitting diode display, manufactured esp. in the 1970s.