Watch″man (?), n.; pl.Watchmen (�).
1. One set to watch; a person who keeps guard; a guard; a sentinel.
2. Specifically, one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night.
Watchman beetle(Zoöl.), the European dor. — Watchman's clock, a watchman's detector in which the apparatus for recording the times of visiting several stations is contained within a single clock. — Watchman's detector, orWatchman's time detector, an apparatus for recording the time when a watchman visits a station on his rounds. — Watchman's rattle, an instrument having at the end of a handle a revolving arm, which, by the action of a strong spring upon cogs, produces, when in motion, a loud, harsh, rattling sound.