[syn: watchman, watcher, security guard]
3. a person who keeps a devotional vigil by a sick bed or by a dead body;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Watcher \Watch"er\ (-[~e]r), n.
One who watches; one who sits up or continues; a diligent
observer; specifically, one who attends upon the sick during
the night.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
watcher
n 1: a close observer; someone who looks at something (such as
an exhibition of some kind); "the spectators applauded the
performance"; "television viewers"; "sky watchers
discovered a new star" [syn: spectator, witness,
viewer, watcher, looker]
2: a guard who keeps watch [syn: watchman, watcher,
security guard]
3: a person who keeps a devotional vigil by a sick bed or by a
dead body
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
52 Moby Thesaurus words for "watcher":
Argus, Charley, TV-viewer, airplane spotter, beholder,
bird-watcher, bystander, drugstore cowboy, eyewitness,
fire patrolman, fire warden, fireguard, forward observer, gaper,
gazer, gazer-on, girl-watcher, goggler, kibitzer, looker,
looker-on, lookout, lookout man, night watchman, observer, ogler,
onlooker, patrol, patroller, patrolman, perceiver, percipient,
picket, roundsman, scout, seer, sentinel, sentry,
sidewalk superintendent, spectator, spectatress, spectatrix,
spotter, televiewer, television-viewer, vedette, video-gazer,
viewer, watch, watchkeeper, watchman, witness