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WATCHING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of observing; taking a patient look
Synonyms:
observance; observation; watching
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("watching" is a kind of...):
look; looking; looking at (the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "watching"):
monitoring (the act of observing something (and sometimes keeping a record of it))
sighting (the act of observing)
stargazing (observation of the stars)
Derivation:
watch (observe with attention)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb watch
Context examples:
Now the name of this lad, that the real bride was to help in watching the king’s geese, was Curdken.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
A few days passed away, and Catherine, though not allowing herself to suspect her friend, could not help watching her closely.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
“I have been watching them. This weather is all from the south.”
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
“Here they come,” said I; and I returned to my former position, for it seemed beneath my dignity that they should find me watching them.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Sitting on the deck several feet away and watching wistfully was White Fang.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Then you passed out and closed the window, standing on the lawn outside smoking a cigar and watching what occurred.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It said nothing of her weariness and watching, and praised him highly.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
For my part, I could hardly eat my supper for watching them.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then François’s lash descended, and Buck had the satisfaction of watching Spitz receive the worst whipping as yet administered to any of the teams.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
He sniffed his hand and dropped down heavily at his feet, watching the trail where it curved emptily from view.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
