Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A house in which a watch or guard is placed.
- noun A house where night-watchmen assemble previous to the hour at which they enter upon their respective beats, and where disturbers of the peace seized by them during the night are lodged and kept in custody till morning, when they are brought before a magistrate; a lockup.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A house in which a watch or guard is placed.
- noun A place where persons under temporary arrest by the police of a city are kept; a police station; a lockup.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small
prison attached to apolice station , usually used on atemporary basis.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Let the watchhouse, which is in the vineyard, be ten high, and four broad.
From the Talmud and Hebraica 1602-1675 1979
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Resistance and enquiry were alike vain, and Ralph was lodged in the watchhouse without even knowing the charge on which he had been taken up.
Ralph Rashleigh 2004
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As they approached the watchhouse Denisov stopped, peering into the forest.
War and Peace 2003
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In the passage of the small watchhouse a Cossack with sleeves rolled up was chopping some mutton.
War and Peace 2003
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It was already growing dusk when Denisov, Petya, and the esaul rode up to the watchhouse.
War and Peace 2003
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What is called the liberty of the subject we must leave for a dull barrister to explain: in the meantime, if any reader be impatient for the definition, a night's billeting in Covent Garden watchhouse will initiate him into its blessings; he is not so dull as to require to be told how to get there.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 392, October 3, 1829 Various
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When the buccaneers had been taken ashore under a heavy guard and locked up in the public watchhouse, Mr. Curtis and Bob, with Job and Jeremy, went ashore to stretch their legs.
The Black Buccaneer 1934
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On a mountain, at the opposite side of the harbor, they built a watchhouse, where the extensive view prevented all danger of a surprise.
An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America 1893
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Beauclerk and Layton to have what he called "a rouze," and Garrick was humorously apprehensive that he would have to bail out his old friend from the watchhouse.
Pickwickian Manners and Customs Percy Hethrington Fitzgerald 1879
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It was already growing dusk when Denisov, Petya, and the esaul rode up to the watchhouse.
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy 1869
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