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Visit vs Watch - What's the difference?

visit | watch |

As verbs the difference between visit and watch

is that visit is to shriek, scream, shrill, screech, squeal, squeak while watch is (label) to look at, see, or view for a period of time.

As a noun watch is

a portable or wearable timepiece.

visit

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • Of God: to appear to (someone) to comfort, bless, or chastise or punish them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
  • * Bible, (w) i. 68
  • [God] hath visited and redeemed his people.
  • * 1611 , Bible , Authorized (King James) Version, (w) I.6:
  • Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.
  • To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
  • (intransitive) To go and meet (a person) as an act of friendliness or sociability.
  • * 1788 , (Edward Gibbon), (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) , volume 68:
  • Her life was spared by the clemency of the emperor, but he visited the pomp and treasures of her palace.
  • Of a sickness, misfortune etc.: to afflict (someone).
  • * 1890 , (James George Frazer), (The Golden Bough) :
  • There used to be a sharp contest as to where the effigy was to be made, for the people thought that the house from which it was carried forth would not be visited with death that year.
  • To inflict punishment, vengeance for (an offense) (on) or (upon) someone.
  • * 2011 , John Mullan, The Guardian , 2 Dec 2011:
  • If this were an Ibsen play, we would be thinking of the sins of one generation being visited upon another, he said.
  • To go to (a shrine, temple etc.) for worship. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
  • To go to (a place) for pleasure, on an errand, etc.
  • * , chapter=19
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A single act of .
  • *{{quote-book, year=1899, author=(Stephen Crane)
  • , title=, chapter=1 , passage=There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”}}
  • A meeting with a doctor at their surgery or the doctor's at one's home.
  • Derived terms

    * conjugal visit * flying visit * visitation * visitor

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    watch

    English

    (wikipedia watch)

    Etymology 1

    As a noun, from (etyl) wacche, from (etyl) . See below for verb form.

    Noun

    (es)
  • A portable or wearable timepiece.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.
    More people today carry a watch on their wrists than in their pockets.
  • The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
  • * Milton
  • shepherds keeping watch by night
  • * Addison
  • All the long night their mournful watch they keep.
  • A particular time period when guarding is kept.
  • The second watch of the night began at midnight.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I did stand my watch upon the hill.
  • * Milton
  • Might we but hear / Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock / Count the night watches to his feathery dames.
  • A person or group of people who guard.
  • The watch stopped the travelers at the city gates.
  • * Bible, Matthew xxvii. 65
  • Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch ; go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
  • The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He upbraids Iago, that he made him / Brave me upon the watch .
  • (nautical) A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch'', ''port watch .
  • (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).
  • The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
  • * 2004 , Charles P. Nemeth, Criminal law
  • 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.
    Derived terms
    * hurricane watch * on one's watch * on the watch * pocket watch * stand watch * stopwatch * tornado watch * wristwatch

    Etymology 2

    As a verb, from (etyl) wacchen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (es)
  • (label) To look at, see, or view for a period of time.
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}
  • (label) To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.
  • (label) To mind, attend, or guard.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1899, author=(Stephen Crane)
  • , title=, chapter=1 , passage=[…] (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. […]”}}
  • (label) To be wary or cautious of.
  • (label) To attend to dangers to or regarding.
  • (label) To remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil.
  • (label) To be vigilant or on one's guard.
  • (label) To act as a lookout.
  • To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
  • To be awake.
  • * 1485 , (Thomas Malory), (w, Le Morte d'Arthur) , Book X:
  • 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 [...].
    Usage notes
    * When used transitively to mean look at something, there is an implication that the direct object is something which is capable of changing.
    Antonyms
    * ignore
    Derived terms
    * clock-watcher * watch it * watch like a hawk * watch the pennies * watch this space * watchman * watchtower

    See also

    * wait * wake 1000 English basic words