watchman
/ˈwɒtʃmən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.01 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A man set to watch: a man who keeps guard, especially one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night; (loosely) any such person of any sex or gender.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonyms: watcher, watchwoman"
- "The visits of the watchman to that (then) obscure and ill-inhabited neighborhood were more regulated by his indolence than his duty; and Clarence knew that it would be in vain to listen for his cry or tarry for his assistance."
- "Well, it so happened that Stine and the cook were sitting in their room one evening, mending and darning their things; it was near bedtime, for the watchman had already sung out "Ten o'clock," but somehow the darning and the sewing went on very slowly indeed[.]"
- "Watchmen are stationed continuously at each end of the bridge, and the main spans are patrolled twice during the night."
- "In 1972, a night watchman patrolling a hotel-office complex noticed that the basement garage door had been taped open and, attributing this to the carelessness of a maintenance worker earlier that day, peeled the tape off."
- "A black night watchman at a factory is accused of murdering a young white secretary who works at the factory, but it turns out the factory owner accidentally killed her when she refused his advances."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: waccheman