▪ I. watching, vbl. n.
(ˈwɒtʃɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
1. The action of the verb watch in various senses. lit. and fig.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xiii. (Mark) 131 The bischapis..gret wechyne mad besyly, to tak sancte marke, for invy. 1479–81 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 99 Item, payd to the Clerke and paris for mete and drynke, for wecchynge of the Sepulcre [etc.] xxiij d. a 1529 Skelton Bouge of Court 352 His hede was heuy for watchynge ouer nyghte. 1530 Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 136 For the wetching and keping of this gude tovne baitht be nicht and day. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 78 For sleeping England long time haue I watcht, Watching breeds leannesse. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Bannatyne Club) I. 120 The marquess wondering at the watching of his lodgeing. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 4 Feb. 1685, Tired indeede as he was with griefe and watching. 1777 Sheridan Trip to Scarb. v. i, Of all modes of suspense, the watching for a loitering mistress is the worst. 1830 Act 11 Geo. IV, c. 27 §1 To make Provision for the lighting and watching of the several Parishes in England and Wales. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 444 The king had been exhausted by long watching and by many violent emotions. He now retired to rest. 1903 Mrs. De La Pasture Cornelius xvi. 183 She is very far from strong, and requires a deal of watching over. 1911 Wace Prophecy Jew. & Chr. ix. 172 He taught His disciples and ourselves to live in a constant state of watching for the complete and final revelation of that kingdom. |
b. An act or instance of this.
| c 1400 Sc. Trojan War (Horstm.) ii. 614 Gregeois, yharnande with mayne & mude The wachingis [v.r. vachingis] for to execude Of þare fraudfull gyle but delay. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 247 b, This honour that the chrysten people rendreth to theyr lorde..is compared to a custody or watchynge. 1533 Bellenden Livy v. xxiii. (S.T.S.) II. 225 The romanis in þe capitoll war sowpit & oursett with continuall statiouns & watchingis. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 387 Leonato. My Lord, I am for you, though it cost mee ten nights watchings. 1641 W. Cartwright Lady Errant i. ii, Hard watchings and rough Guards Fill and make up the field. 1669 Stillingfl. Serm. ix. (1673) 167 Their frequent watchings, fastings, hunger and thirst. 1704 Nelson Fest. & Fasts ii. v. (1739) 501 It was celebrated..with solemn Watchings. 1793 Martyn Lang. Bot. s.v. Vigiliæ, These Vigiliæ or Watchings are performed at determined hours of the day, when plants open, expand, and shut their flowers daily. 1798 S. Lee Canterb. T., Young Lady's T. II. 194 Hours were past by the tender, agitated Emily, in anxious watchings. 1865 Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 80 They had to wait for the successive ‘watching’ of each buoy, as its first appearance on the surface is technically termed. 1890 Stevenson In South Seas ii. vi. (1900) 198 It is the dead man's kindred and next friends who thus deprecate his fury with nocturnal watchings. |
c. Sc. watching and warding: see
watch v. 6 b and 10.
| 1579 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 217 Subject to all taxationis, wacheing, warding, and utheris impositionis liand upoun the said burgh. 1600 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 378/1 Quod omnes in dicto burgo manentes..auxilia ferrent cum burgensibus ad lie watching, wairding, [etc.]. 1711 E. Ward Vulgus Brit. viii. 95 For Watching, Warding, and Trainbanding, Tho' Customs of an ancient standing. 1765–8 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. ii. iv. §8 This service of watching and warding..is due by the burgesses within the..territory of the borough. 1805 Forsyth Beauties Scot. I. 106 The citizens [of Edinburgh] performed a species of personal service for defence of the town, called watching and warding. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 117 The reddendo (now merely nominal) of watching and warding. |
2. The state or condition of being awake, wakefulness; often, wakefulness from disinclination or incapacity for sleep; an instance of this.
| c 1550 H. Lloyd Treas. Health viii. C viii, Agaynst to much watchynges... The Sygnes. That he can not slepe after his accustomyd fashyon. 1608 Topsell Serpents 250 Yea and after a man hath recouered his health, yet is he neuerthelesse disquieted by much watching for a long time after. 1669 E. Maynwaring Preserv. Health 90 The Life of Man..spends its whole course in these two different states, Sleep and Watching: the one appointed for Rest and Ease, the other for Action and Labour. 1672 Wiseman Treat. Wounds ii. ii. 8 The Bullet not having been drawn out,..occasioned great pain with Inflammation, great heat and watchings. 1799 Underwood Dis. Childhood (ed. 4) I. 61 Watching, or want of sleep is frequently a symptom of the foregoing complaints. 1860 Mayne Expos. Lex., Pervigilium, term for disinclination to sleep; watching. |
† 3. = watch n. 1 b.
Obs.—1| 1688 Holme Armory ii. xii. 311/1 A Watching of Nightingales. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
watching-hole,
watching-place;
watching brief, a brief instructing counsel to ‘watch’ a case; also
fig.;
watching candle, a candle used at the ‘watching’ of a shrine or of a corpse; also
transf.;
† watching-chamber, (
a) ? a guard-room adjoining a royal apartment; (
b) a room adjoining a shrine, to be occupied by a watcher;
† watching lamp,
cf. watching-candle;
watching-rate = watch-rate.
| 1886 Daily News 17 July 2/1 ‘*Watching’ briefs are held by the Attorney General..and Sir H. James, Q.C. for Sir Charles Dilke. 1905 H. G. Wells Kipps iii. i. §4 Ann held a watching brief for herself. |
| 1526 Will of T. Stow in Beauties of Eng. & W. X. iii. 261 Item to have on every aultar a *wacchyng candle burning from vi of the clocke tyll it be past seven. a 1592 Greenes Vision D 4, The Mother and the daughter sette vppe a watching Candle, and sat verie mannerlie by a good fier, looking when [he] should wake. 1634 S. R. Noble Soldier iv. ii, Beauty was turn'd into a watching Candle that went out stinking. |
| 1533 in W. H. St. J. Hope Windsor Castle (1913) I. 253 [A] Galary betwene the Kynges halle and hys *watching chambre. Ibid. I. 255 The Quenes watchyng chambre. 1856 Builder 14 June 325/3 The Watching Chamber on the north side of the Saint's Chapel [St. Albans], wherein a monk was posted as a guard of honour to the shrine. 1862 R. J. King Eastern Cathedr. 22 (Oxford) The watching chamber which, here as elsewhere, adjoined the shrine for the protection of the gold and jewels which enriched it. |
| 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Africa (1902) 76/1, I accordingly ordered the usual *watching-hole to be constructed. |
| 1597 1st Pt. Ret. fr. Parnass. i. i. 77 If they have lived by a *watchinge lampe, Prysinge each minute of a flyinge houre. |
| 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xiii, Sambo..saw the little girl..jump up from her *watching-place in the window. |
| 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz, Parish iv, *Watching-rates, lighting-rates, paving-rates. |
▪ II. watching, ppl. a. (
ˈwɒtʃɪŋ)
[-ing2.] That watches; observant, vigilant, unsleeping.
| Beowulf 1268 Se æt Heorote fand wæccendne wer wiᵹes bidan. c 1000 Eccl. Inst. in Thorpe Anc. Laws (1840) II. 400 Þæt ᵹe mid wæccendre ᵹymen ᵹehycgen. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xvii. ix, Up, Lord..And bring to naught those watching pawes. c 1680 R. Fleming Fulfilling Script. ii. vi. (1726) 315 A watching providence over the church. 1728 Ramsay Falling of a Slate v, But watching sylphs flew round, To guard dear Madie from all skaith. 1848 Dickens Dombey xlvii, He..kept his watching eyes that way. 1902 Daily Chron. 24 July 5/2 Hence the interesting spectacle of a class rivalry has not been presented to a watching nation. |
Hence
ˈwatchingly adv. rare—0.
| 1552 Huloet, Watchyngelye, uigilanter. |