watchword
English
Etymology
From Middle English waccheword, morphologically as watch (“guard, sentinel, sentry”) + word.
Pronunciation
Noun
watchword (plural watchwords)
- A word used as a motto, as expressive of a principle, belief, or rule of action; a rallying cry.
- 1871, “Forward! Be Our Watchword”, Henry Alford (lyrics), Henry Thomas Smart (music)[1]:
- For-ward! be our watchword, Steps and voices joined; / Seek the things before us, Not a look behind.
- 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress[2]:
- Atrocities of the most vicious kind were justified by the watchwords: "This is war!" "Might is Right." "Necessity knows no law."
- 1945 May, Harry S. Truman, Announcement of Germany's Surrender[3]:
- We can repay the debt which we owe to our God, to our dead, and to our children only by work — by ceaseless devotion to the responsibilities which lie ahead of us. If I could give you a single watchword for the coming months, that word is: work, work, and more work.
- 1994, Tori Amos (lyrics and music), “Cornflake Girl”, in Under the Pink:
- It's a peel out the watchword / Just peel out the watchword
- 2019 October, James Abbott, “Esk Valley revival”, in Modern Railways, page 76:
- The Esk Valley route to Whitby was a classic example: a basic four trains a day service has persisted for decades, with economy the watchword.
- (archaic) A prearranged reply to the challenge of a sentry or a guard; a password or signal by which friends can be known from enemies.
- Synonyms: passphrase, password, underword
- (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
Translations
word used as expressive of a principle
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a prearranged reply to the challenge of a sentry or a guard
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Further reading
- “watchword”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “watchword”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.