The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
(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.
“Overpowered by his exertions, he lays his head back on his pillows and closes his eyes for not more than a minute, when he again resumes his watching of the weather and his attention to the muffled sounds.”