Watch \Watch\ (w[o^]ch), n. [OE. wacche, AS. w[ae]cce, fr.
   wacian to wake; akin to D. wacht, waak, G. wacht, wache.
   [root]134. See Wake, v. i. ]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. The act of watching; forbearance of sleep; vigil; wakeful,
      vigilant, or constantly observant attention; close
      observation; guard; preservative or preventive vigilance;
      formerly, a watching or guarding by night.
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            Shepherds keeping watch by night.     --Milton.
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            All the long night their mournful watch they keep.
                                                  --Addison.
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   Note: Watch was formerly distinguished from ward, the former
         signifying a watching or guarding by night, and the
         latter a watching, guarding, or protecting by day
         Hence, they were not unfrequently used together,
         especially in the phrase to keep watch and ward, to
         denote continuous and uninterrupted vigilance or
         protection, or both watching and guarding. This
         distinction is now rarely recognized, watch being used
         to signify a watching or guarding both by night and by
         day, and ward, which is now rarely used, having simply
         the meaning of guard, or protection, without reference
         to time.
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               Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and
               ward.                              --Spenser.
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               Ward, guard, or custodia, is chiefly applied to
               the daytime, in order to apprehend rioters, and
               robbers on the highway . . . Watch, is properly
               applicable to the night only, . . . and it begins
               when ward ends, and ends when that begins.
                                                  --Blackstone.
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   2. One who watches, or those who watch; a watchman, or a body
      of watchmen; a sentry; a guard.
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            Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way,
            make it as sure as ye can.            --Matt. xxvii.
                                                  65.
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   3. The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a
      watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
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            He upbraids Iago, that he made him
            Brave me upon the watch.              --Shak.
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   4. The period of the night during which a person does duty as
      a sentinel, or guard; the time from the placing of a
      sentinel till his relief; hence, a division of the night.
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            I did stand my watch upon the hill.   --Shak.
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            Might we but hear . . .
            Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
            Count the night watches to his feathery dames.
                                                  --Milton.
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   5. A small timepiece, or chronometer, to be carried about the
      person, the machinery of which is moved by a spring.
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   Note: Watches are often distinguished by the kind of
         escapement used, as an anchor watch, a lever watch,
         a chronometer watch, etc. (see the Note under
         Escapement, n., 3); also, by the kind of case, as a
         gold or silver watch, an open-faced watch, a
         hunting watch, or hunter, etc.
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   6. (Naut.)
      (a) An allotted portion of time, usually four hour for
          standing watch, or being on deck ready for duty. Cf.
          Dogwatch.
      (b) That part, usually one half, of the officers and crew,
          who together attend to the working of a vessel for an
          allotted time, usually four hours. The watches are
          designated as the port watch, and the starboard
          watch.
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   Anchor watch (Naut.), a detail of one or more men who keep
      watch on deck when a vessel is at anchor.

   To be on the watch, to be looking steadily for some event.
      

   Watch and ward (Law), the charge or care of certain
      officers to keep a watch by night and a guard by day in
      towns, cities, and other districts, for the preservation
      of the public peace. --Wharton. --Burrill.

   Watch and watch (Naut.), the regular alternation in being
      on watch and off watch of the two watches into which a
      ship's crew is commonly divided.

   Watch barrel, the brass box in a watch, containing the
      mainspring.

   Watch bell (Naut.), a bell struck when the half-hour glass
      is run out, or at the end of each half hour. --Craig.

   Watch bill (Naut.), a list of the officers and crew of a
      ship as divided into watches, with their stations.
      --Totten.

   Watch case, the case, or outside covering, of a watch;
      also, a case for holding a watch, or in which it is kept.
      

   Watch chain. Same as watch guard, below.

   Watch clock, a watchman's clock; see under Watchman.

   Watch fire, a fire lighted at night, as a signal, or for
      the use of a watch or guard.

   Watch glass.
      (a) A concavo-convex glass for covering the face, or dial,
          of a watch; -- also called watch crystal.
      (b) (Naut.) A half-hour glass used to measure the time of
          a watch on deck.

   Watch guard, a chain or cord by which a watch is attached
      to the person.

   Watch gun (Naut.), a gun sometimes fired on shipboard at 8
      p. m., when the night watch begins.

   Watch light, a low-burning lamp used by watchers at night;
      formerly, a candle having a rush wick.

   Watch night, The last night of the year; -- so called by
      the Methodists, Moravians, and others, who observe it by
      holding religious meetings lasting until after midnight.
      

   Watch paper, an old-fashioned ornament for the inside of a
      watch case, made of paper cut in some fanciful design, as
      a vase with flowers, etc.

   Watch tackle (Naut.), a small, handy purchase, consisting
      of a tailed double block, and a single block with a hook.
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Anchor \An"chor\ ([a^][ng]"k[~e]r), n. [OE. anker, AS. ancor,
   oncer, L. ancora, sometimes spelt anchora, fr. Gr. 'a`gkyra,
   akin to E. angle: cf. F. ancre. See Angle, n.]
   1. A iron instrument which is attached to a ship by a cable
      (rope or chain), and which, being cast overboard, lays
      hold of the earth by a fluke or hook and thus retains the
      ship in a particular station.
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   Note: The common anchor consists of a straight bar called a
         shank, having at one end a transverse bar called a
         stock, above which is a ring for the cable, and at the
         other end the crown, from which branch out two or more
         arms with flukes, forming with the shank a suitable
         angle to enter the ground.
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   Note: Formerly the largest and strongest anchor was the sheet
         anchor (hence, Fig., best hope or last refuge), called
         also waist anchor. Now the bower and the sheet anchor
         are usually alike. Then came the best bower and the
         small bower (so called from being carried on the bows).
         The stream anchor is one fourth the weight of the bower
         anchor. Kedges or kedge anchors are light anchors used
         in warping.
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   2. Any instrument or contrivance serving a purpose like that
      of a ship's anchor, as an arrangement of timber to hold a
      dam fast; a contrivance to hold the end of a bridge cable,
      or other similar part; a contrivance used by founders to
      hold the core of a mold in place.
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   3. Fig.: That which gives stability or security; that on
      which we place dependence for safety.
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            Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. --Heb.
                                                  vi. 19.
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   4. (Her.) An emblem of hope.
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   5. (Arch.)
      (a) A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building
          together.
      (b) Carved work, somewhat resembling an anchor or
          arrowhead; -- a part of the ornaments of certain
          moldings. It is seen in the echinus, or egg-and-anchor
          (called also egg-and-dart, egg-and-tongue)
          ornament.
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   6. (Zool.) One of the anchor-shaped spicules of certain
      sponges; also, one of the calcareous spinules of certain
      Holothurians, as in species of Synapta.
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   6. (Television) an achorman, anchorwoman, or
      anchorperson.
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   Anchor ice. See under Ice. 

   Anchor light See the vocabulary.

   Anchor ring. (Math.) Same as Annulus, 2 (b).

   Anchor shot See the vocabulary.

   Anchor space See the vocabulary.

   Anchor stock (Naut.), the crossbar at the top of the shank
      at right angles to the arms.

   Anchor watch See the vocabulary.

   The anchor comes home, when it drags over the bottom as the
      ship drifts.

   Foul anchor, the anchor when it hooks, or is entangled
      with, another anchor, or with a cable or wreck, or when
      the slack cable is entangled.

   The anchor is acockbill, when it is suspended
      perpendicularly from the cathead, ready to be let go.

   The anchor is apeak, when the cable is drawn in so tight as
      to bring the ship directly over it.

   The anchor is atrip, or aweigh, when it is lifted out of
      the ground.

   The anchor is awash, when it is hove up to the surface of
      the water.

   At anchor, anchored.

   To back an anchor, to increase the holding power by laying
      down a small anchor ahead of that by which the ship rides,
      with the cable fastened to the crown of the latter to
      prevent its coming home.

   To cast anchor, to drop or let go an anchor to keep a ship
      at rest.

   To cat the anchor, to hoist the anchor to the cathead and
      pass the ring-stopper.

   To fish the anchor, to hoist the flukes to their resting
      place (called the bill-boards), and pass the shank
      painter.

   To weigh anchor, to heave or raise the anchor so as to sail
      away.
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Anchor watch \Anchor watch\ (Naut.)
   A detail of one or more men who keep watch on deck at night
   when a vessel is at anchor.
   [Webster 1913 Suppl.]