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Watch vs Know - What's the difference?

watch | know |

As nouns the difference between watch and know

is that watch is a portable or wearable timepiece while know is knowledge; the state of knowing.

As verbs the difference between watch and know

is that watch is (label) to look at, see, or view for a period of time while know is (lb) to perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of or that.

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

    know

    English

    (wikipedia know)

    Verb

  • (lb) To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of or that.
  • :
  • (lb) To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
  • :
  • *, chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew , made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
  • (lb) To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
  • :
  • *
  • (lb) To experience.
  • :
  • *1991 , Irvin Haas, Historic Homes of the American Presidents , p.155:
  • *:The Truman family knew good times and bad,.
  • (lb) To distinguish, to discern, particularly by contrast or comparison; to recognize the nature of.
  • :
  • *(Bible)'', ''(w) 7.16 :
  • *:Ye shall know them by their fruits.
  • *
  • *:The Bat—they called him the Bat.. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
  • *1980 , Armored and mechanized brigade operations , p.3−29:
  • *:Flares do not know friend from foe and so illuminate both. Changes in wind direction can result in flare exposure of the attacker while defenders hide in the shadows.
  • (lb) To recognize as the same (as someone or something previously encountered) after an absence or change.
  • * (Thomas Flatman), Translation of Part of (Petronius) Arbiter's (Satyricon)
  • *:At nearer view he thought he knew the dead, / And call'd the wretched man to mind.
  • *1818 , (w), (Frankenstein) :
  • *:Ernest also is so much improved, that you would hardly know him:.
  • To understand from experience or study.
  • :
  • (lb) To understand (a subject).
  • :
  • *
  • To have sexual relations with.
  • *, (w) 4.1:
  • *:And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
  • (lb) To have knowledge; to have information, be informed.
  • :
  • *
  • *:“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
  • *
  • (lb) To be or become aware or cognizant.
  • :
  • To be acquainted (with another person).
  • *1607 , (William Shakespeare), (Antony and Cleopatra) , :
  • *:You and I have known , sir.
  • Quotations

    * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), Julius Caesar , scene 1: *: O, that a man might know' / The end of this day's business ere it come! / But it sufficeth that the day will end, / And then the end is ' known . * 1839 , (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), The Light of Stars'', ''Voices of the Night : *: O fear not in a world like this, / And thou shalt know' erelong, / ' Know how sublime a thing it is, / To suffer and be strong. *

    Usage notes

    * "Knowen" is found in some old texts as the past participle. * In some old texts, the form "know to [verb]" rather than "know how to [verb]" is found, e.g. Milton wrote "he knew himself to sing, and build the lofty rhymes".

    Derived terms

    * God knows * God only knows * it's not what you know but who you know * know about * know-all * know beans about * know from * know-how * know inside and out * know-it-all * knowledge * know like a book * know like the back of one's hand * know-nothing * know of * know one's ass from a hole in the ground * know one's own mind * know one's way around * know someone in the biblical sense * know which end is up * know which way is up * not know someone from Adam * the dear knows

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Knowledge; the state of knowing.
  • * 1623 , William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1623 first folio edition), act 5, scene 2:
  • That on the view and know of these Contents, death,

    Derived terms

    * in the know

    References

    * *

    Statistics

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