watch

Etymology 1

As a noun, from Middle English wacche, from Old English wæċċe. See below for verb form.

noun

1. A portable or wearable timepiece.
   More people today carry a watch on their wrists than in their pockets.
2. The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
   All the long night their mournful watch they keep. 1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses
3. A particular time period when guarding is kept.
   The second watch of the night began at midnight.
4. A period of wakefulness between the two sleeps of a biphasic sleep pattern (the dead sleep or first sleep and morning sleep or second sleep): the first waking.
5. A person or group of people who guard.
   The watch stopped the travelers at the city gates.
6. The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
7. (nautical) A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
8. (nautical) A period of time on duty, usually four hours in length; the officers and crew who tend the working of a vessel during the same watch. (FM 55–501).
9. The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
   A quick watch of Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange sends this reality home fast. Amoral, vacuous, cold-blooded, unsympathetic, and chillingly evil describe only parts of the story. 2004, Charles P. Nemeth, Criminal law
   The first third of the film is laugh after laugh; […] But half an hour in and this movie gets unnervingly dark and is an uncomfortable watch at times. 11 August 2016, Andrew Bullock, “David Brent REVIEW: Life on the Road goes from painfully funny to just plain painful. Ouch”, in Sunday Express

Etymology 2

From Middle English wacchen, from Old English wæċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *wakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *wakjaną.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To look at, see, or view for a period of time.
   Watching the clock will not make time go faster.
   I'm tired of watching TV.
2. (transitive) To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.
   Watch this!
   Put a little baking soda in some vinegar and watch what happens.
3. (transitive) To mind, attend, or guard.
   Please watch my suitcase for a minute.
   He has to watch the kids that afternoon.
   […] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […]” 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock
4. (transitive) To be wary or cautious of.
   You should watch that guy. He has a reputation for lying.
5. (transitive) To attend to dangers to or regarding.
   watch your head; watch your step
   Watch yourself when you talk to him.
   Watch what you say.
6. (intransitive) To remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil.
7. (intransitive) To be vigilant or on one's guard.
   For some must watch, while some must sleep: So runs the world away.
8. (intransitive) To act as a lookout.
9. (nautical, of a buoy) To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
10. (obsolete, intransitive) To be awake.
    So on the morne Sir Trystram, Sir Gareth and Sir Dynadan arose early and went unto Sir Palomydes chambir, and there they founde hym faste aslepe, for he had all nyght wacched […] 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X
11. (transitive, obsolete) To be on the lookout for; to wait for expectantly.
    [S]he had reason to dread that her husband had formed a very criminal project of being revenged on Zeluco, and watched an opportunity of putting it in execution. 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 80