Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Nautical Either of two short periods of watch duty, from 4 to 6 P.M. or 6 to 8 P.M.
- n. A late night shift.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Nautical, a watch of two hours, arranged so as to alter the watches kept from day to day by each division of the crew. The first dog-watch is from 4 to 6 p. m., the second from 6 to 8 p. m. See watch.
Wiktionary
- n. nautical Aboard a ship, either of the two short two-hour watches that take place between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
- n. by extension A night shift, or other very late or early period of duty.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Naut.) A half watch; a watch of two hours, of which there are two, the first
dogwatch from 4 to 6 o'clock, p. m., and the seconddogwatch from 6 to 8 o'clock, p. m.
WordNet 3.0
- n. either of two short watches: from 4-6 pm or 6-8 pm
Etymologies
- From dog + watch. (Wiktionary)
- Probably from dog-sleep, a light or interrupted sleep. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The officers who came to Walker's aid had worked the "dogwatch" or overnight shift with him on the North Side for most of their time with the department.”
“In the middle of the first dogwatch, cocoanut trees were sighted due south, their tufted heads rising above the water and marking the low-lying atoll beneath.”
“This supernatural quasi-human dogwatch crew was no match for a magnificent canine using all of his animal instincts unclouded by any other agenda than saving the human whod saved his ass.”
“And there's great information on breed-specific legislation, from a Canadian perspective, here at dogwatch. net.”
“At eight bells at the beginning of the first dogwatch — 4: 00 p.m. — the two ships 'companies assembled at the burial site a quarter of a mile across the ice from Erebus.”
“On a Tuesday dogwatch in the third week of November, the thing from the ice came aboard Erebus and took the well-liked bosun, Mr. Thomas Terry, snatching him from his post near the stern, leaving only the man's head on the railing.”
“At two bells in the first dogwatch — 6: 00 p.m. — the last search parties all come in, none having found the missing men but several seamen shamefaced at having fired their weapons at wind shrieking among the jagged ice or at the ice itself, thinking some serac a looming white bear.”
“Later in the day — with the lightning and airborne electrical displays growing even more violent — the dogwatch lookouts reported something large, much too large to be a mere white bear, prowling and pacing along the ridges in the fog, now concealed, now made visible by lightning flash for only a second or two.”
“And there's great information on breed-specific legislation, from a Canadian perspective, here at dogwatch.net.”
“When Claggart's unobserved glance happened to light on belted Billy rolling along the upper gun deck in the leisure of the second dogwatch, that glance would follow the cheerful sea Hyperion with a settled meditative and melancholy expression, his eyes strangely suffused with incipient feverish tears.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dogwatch’.
-
phrontistery - d
from phrontistery.info
dacnomania, dacoitage, dacryops, dactylioglyph, dactyliology, dactyliomancy, dactylogram, dactylography, dactyloid, dactylology, dactylomancy, dactylomegaly and 624 more...
-
Whaleworthy & Piratical Words
A list of favorite nautical words to be sprinkled liberally throughout speech for piratical or Melvillian effect.
batten down, back and fill, beamy, baulking, beckets, bilge, bold shore, boomjumper, breaker, larboard, abaft, ash breeze and 156 more...
-
Animalia Wordia
Words or short phrases with animal names in them. Since I already have a dedicated list for 'monkey' words I shall leave them out of this one for the moment.
paper tiger, pigeon-hearted, lion-hearted, sacred cow, chicken heart, fraidy cat, scaredy-cat, snake oil, can of worms, snake pit, rat's nest, stool pigeon and 114 more...
-
Three Sheets to the Wind
Common words or phrases of nautical origin that have taken on different or metaphorical meanings. Chained_bear and I tossed a coin over who would make the list. I won (or lost, depending on how you...
scuttlebutt, taken aback, brass monkey, boot camp, clean bill of health, three sheets to t..., the devil to pay, between the devil..., by and large, the whole nine yards, mind your ps and qs, slush fund and 116 more...
-
rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3255 more...
-
Lee's List
Words I like, and should try to use more often.
insipid, laconic, clandestine, quizzical, endeavor, sanguine, crestfallen, apocryphal, purloin, moribund, facetious, rancor and 68 more...
-
D is for Daisy Cutter
My D Words
data exhaust, daft punk, dandelion, dackelblick, daft, daisy, daisy cutter, dame, dandy, danke, dapper, death rattle and 62 more...
-
Nifty Misc
rechauffe, merrythought, fossick, flacon, douceur, prandial, barbican, chuffed, whinge, bumf, knackered, ponce and 37 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for dogwatch.

Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.