night watchman

See also: nightwatchman and night-watchman

English

Alternative forms

• nightwatchman

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

night watchman (plural night watchmen)

1. (historical) Prior to police forces, a person appointed by a town or city to walk the streets at night and guard the burghers from felons and robbers.
2. A person who guards (usually at a building) at night.
   • 1966, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Visions of Johanna”, in Blonde on Blonde:

     We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight / Ask himself if it's him or them that's insane

3. (cricket) The last batsman in a three or five day game to play on a particular day and thus carry over the batting to the following day.

Derived terms

• night watchman state

 

Translations

a person appointed by a town or city to walk the streets at night and guard the burghers from felons and robbers

• Danish: vægter c
• Dutch: nachtwacht (nl) m
• Finnish: yövartija (fi)
• German: Nachtwächter (de) m
• Icelandic: næturvörður m
• Macedonian: па́зван m (pázvan), па́звант m (pázvant), па́звантин m (pázvantin)
• Turkish: gece bekçisi (tr), yatakçı (tr)

person who guards at night

• Catalan: vigilant nocturn m
• Finnish: yövartija (fi)
• German: Nachtwächter (de) m, Wachmann (de) m
• Icelandic: næturvörður m
• Macedonian: па́зван m (pázvan), па́звант m (pázvant), па́звантин m (pázvantin), чу́вар m (čúvar)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nattvakt m or f

• Swedish: nattvakt (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} veilleur de nuit (fr) m
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} noćobdija
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} gece bekçisi