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One who watches or keeps awake all night.

Careful watching. [Obs.]

antern. -- Pinion wire, wire fluted longitudinally, for making the pinions of clocks and watches. It is formed by being drawn through holes of the shape required for the leaves or teeth of the pinions.

nd of a shaft or arbor which rests and turns in a support; as, the pivot of an arbor in a watch.

el, in pledge or pawn; to leave in possession of another as security; as, to pledge one's watch.

bending or cutting metal rods or wire, for handling small objects such as the parts of a watch, etc.

; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position. A prince who was as watchful as his predecessor had been over the interests of the state. Prescott.

To exercise superintendence; to watch over. Some o'er the public magazines preside. Dryden.

Presiding or watching over. "Presidential angels." Glanvill.

a scrutinizing curiosity; -- often implying reproach. " To pry upon the stars." Chaucer. Watch thou and wake when others be asleep, To pry into the secrets of the state. Shak.

ransmits motion between two shafts which are at right angles with each other. -- Quarter watch (Naut.), a subdivision of the full watch (one fourth of the crew) on a man-of- war. -- To give, or show, quarter (Mil.), to accept as prisoner, on submission in battle; to forbear to kill, as a vanquished enemy. -- To keep…

ike the English challenge: "Who comes there" To be on the qui vive, to be on guard; to be watchful and alert, like a sentinel.

To engage in a raffle; as, to raffle for a watch.

siness was to walk through the forest, recover beasts that had strayed beyond its limits, watch the deer, present trespasses to the next court held for the forest, etc. [Eng.]

t. I'll give him reasons for it. Shak. The reason of the motion of the balance in a wheel watch is by the motion of the next wheel. Sir M. Hale. This reason did the ancient fathers render, why the church was called "catholic." Bp. Pearson. Virtue and vice are not arbitrary things; but there is a natural and eternal rea…

Looking behind; looking backward watchfully. [He] turns thither his regardant eye. Southey.

temperature of a room, the pressure of steam, the speed of a machine, etc. To regulate a watch or clock, to adjust its rate of running so that it will keep approximately standard time.

A contrivance for regulating and controlling motion, as: (a) The lever or index in a watch, which controls the effective length of the hairspring, and thus regulates the vibrations of the balance. (b) The governor of a steam engine. (c) A valve for controlling the admission of steam to the steam chest, in a locomotive.…

A watch with a striking apparatus which, upon pressure of a spring, will indicate the time, usually in hours and quarters.

complishing a given result many times in succession; as, a repeating firearm; a repeating watch. Repeating circle. See the Note under Circle, n., 3. -- Repeating decimal (Arith.), a circulating decimal. See under Decimal. -- Repeating firearm, a firearm that may be discharged many times in quick succession; especiall…