watchdog.
A guard dog.
Meaning & usage
A guard dog.
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.
Ellipsis of watchdog timer.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Old English wæċċan Middle English wacchen English watch Old English [Term?]? Proto-Germanic *-gô Proto-West Germanic *-gō Old English -ga Old English dogga Middle English dogge English dog English watchdog From watch + dog.
To perform a function analogous to that of a watchdog; to guard and warn.
To be continuously reset by a watchdog timer.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Old English wæċċan Middle English wacchen English watch Old English [Term?]? Proto-Germanic *-gô Proto-West Germanic *-gō Old English -ga Old English dogga Middle English dogge English dog English watchdog From watch + dog.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.