Word.ws English Dictionary

night watchman

night watchman noun: 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.

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.
    • We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight / Ask himself if it's him or them that's insane1966, Bob Dylan, “Visions of Johanna”, in Blonde on Blonde
  3. A lower order batter to play the last overs in low light to save better batters for the next day's play.

night watchman meaning in Tamil and Kannada

night watchman in Tamil

இரவுக் காவலர்

night watchman in Kannada

ರಾತ್ರಿ ಕಾವಲುಗಾರ, ಇರುಳು ಕಾವಲುಗಾರ

Forms of night watchman

pluralnight watchmen
alternative formnightwatchman

Origin of night watchman

From night + watchman. Cf. Old English nihtweard. By surface analysis, night + watch + man.

Words formed from night watchman

Questions about night watchman

What does night watchman mean?
Night watchman means 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.
What is night watchman in Tamil?
Night watchman in Tamil is இரவுக் காவலர். See Night watchman meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is night watchman?
Night watchman is a noun.
What is the plural of night watchman?
The plural of night watchman is night watchmen.

Words near night watchman in the dictionary

  1. night vision
  2. night watch
  3. night watcher
  4. night watchers
  5. night watches
  6. night watchman
  7. night watchman state
  8. night watchman states
  9. night watchmen
  10. night wind
  11. night winds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: night watchman (page history and authors); night watchman (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); night watchman (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-night watchman.ogg.

Cite this entry: “night watchman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/night_watchman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.