Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Nautical Either of two short periods of watch duty, from 4 to 6 PM or 6 to 8 PM.
  • noun A late night shift.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (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 second dogwatch from 6 to 8 o'clock, p. m.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun nautical Aboard a ship, either of the two short two-hour watches that take place between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
  • noun by extension A night shift, or other very late or early period of duty.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun either of two short watches: from 4-6 pm or 6-8 pm

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably from dog-sleep, a light or interrupted sleep.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From dog + watch.

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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.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2009

  • 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.

    THE SEED OF McCOY 2010

  • 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.

    Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009

  • 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.

    Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009

  • 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.

    Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009

  • 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.

    The Terror Simmons, Dan 2007

  • 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.

    The Terror Simmons, Dan 2007

  • 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.

    The Terror Simmons, Dan 2007

  • And there's great information on breed-specific legislation, from a Canadian perspective, here at dogwatch. net.

    vague and menacing 2005

  • 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.

    The Terror Simmons, Dan 2007

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