Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A light kept burning at night, as for the use of a watcher in the sick-room.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • 'Why, it suggested to me words one night: it poured a strain which I could have written down, only I was appalled, and dared not rise to seek pencil and paper by the dim watch-light.

    Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte 2004

  • Then, leaning on the cage of the watch-light that jutted out from the front of the platform, set myself to look over all the line of the sky and sea.

    Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 2003

  • I must add that, during the night, the phosphorescent waters of the Gulf Stream rivalled the electric power of our watch-light, especially in the stormy weather that threatened us so frequently.

    Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 2003

  • Then, when he had finished, he went and leant on the cage of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly on the ocean.

    Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 2003

  • The watch-light was dim, and yet such ray as there was, fell on the form of Saib!

    The Book of One Syllable Esther Bakewell

  • I have since caused a watch-light to be burnt in my library, and have left the shutters open, to deter the approach of our nocturnal guest; and I have stated the severity of approaching winter, and the rawness of the fogs as an objection to solitary walks.

    Chapter XVI 1917

  • Livid fire flares up in the place of the watch-light, bringing into distinctness the black cordage and spectral crew.

    The Wagnerian Romances Gertrude Hall Brownell 1912

  • To the south the watch-light showed brightly, but no other was visible.

    The Little Minister 1898

  • At any rate René, over his busy work in the lantern, whistled and hummed snatches of song with unwonted blithesomeness, and, after lighting the steady watch-light and securing all his paraphernalia with extra care, dallied some time longer than usual on the outer platform, striving to snatch through the driven wraith a glance of the distant lights of Pulwick.

    The Light of Scarthey Egerton Castle 1889

  • Gulf Stream rivalled the electric power of our watch-light, especially in the stormy weather that threatened us so frequently.

    Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. English Jules Verne 1866

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