watchdog

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A guard dog.
  2. An individual or group that monitors the activities of another entity (such as an individual, corporation, non-profit group, or governmental organization) on behalf of the public to ensure that entity does not behave illegally or unethically.
  3. Ellipsis of watchdog timer.
verb
  1. To perform a function analogous to that of a watchdog; to guard and warn.
  2. To be continuously reset by a watchdog timer.

Pronunciation

/ˈwɑːt͡ʃˌdɑːɡ/ /ˈwɒt͡ʃˌdɒɡ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-watchdog.wav LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-watchdog.wav

Word forms

watchdog watchdogs watchdogging watchdogged

Etymology

From watch + dog.

Related words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.