WATCHWORD • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Watchword

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/wˈɑtʃwˌərd/ Listen

noun

Watchword n.

A word given to sentinels, and to such as have occasion to visit the guards, used as a signal by which a friend is known from an enemy, or a person who has a right to pass the watch from one who has not; a countersign; a password.

A sentiment or motto; esp., one used as a rallying cry or a signal for action. "Nor deal in watchwords overmuch."

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Etymology of 'Watchword'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Watchword" Quotes from Famous Books

... "Our watchword," he said in conclusion, "should be progress. Look at our roads. Money is spent upon them every season, but not in an intelligent way. We find men at times appointed roadmasters who seldom drive over the highway. Mud and sods are ...

— The Fourth Watch • H. A. Cody

... lesson. The mother, however, who troubles about knitting is not quite abreast of her times. The truly modern woman flies at higher game; with the solemnity and devotion of a Mrs. Cimabue Brown she cherishes in her children a love of Art. Her watchword is Die Kunst im Leben des Kindes, or Art in the Nursery, and she is assisted by men who are doing for German children of this generation what Walter Crane and others did for English nurseries ...

— Home Life in Germany • Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick

... the watchword of a great man of God, the Rev. Charles Simeon, in the early and exquisitely trying experiences of his long ministry (1782-1836) at Trinity Church, Cambridge. The parishioners shut their house-doors in his ...

— To My Younger Brethren - Chapters on Pastoral Life and Work • Handley C. G. Moule

... once good and true as thine own; but now there crawls not on this earth a wretch whose lying lips have uttered falsehoods more villainous than mine! and honour, the characteristic of the ancient house I have disgraced, the best attribute of the high calling I have polluted, is now a watchword ...

— Theresa Marchmont • Mrs Charles Gore

... time the Apostles departed on their several missions. It is said that ere doing so, they agreed on the Creed or watchword of the Church; but it was not written down till more than three hundred years later, lest the heathen should learn it and blaspheme it. Wherever they went they ordained elders and deacons, and in most cities they left one to whom they had conveyed their own apostolic ...

— The Chosen People - A Compendium Of Sacred And Church History For School-Children • Charlotte Mary Yonge

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