sentry

English

Alternative forms

• centry, sentrie, sentery (all obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier sentrie, sentery, of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of sentinel or sanctuary; or perhaps from Old French senteret (“a path”), diminutive of sentier, from Medieval Latin semitarius (“a path”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĕnʹtrē, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛntɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sen‧try
• Rhymes: -ɛntɹi
• Homophone: century (for some speakers)

Noun

sentry (plural sentries)

1. A guard, particularly on duty at the entrance to a military base.
   • 2019, Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King, Canongate Books (2020), page 213:

     Additional sentries are keeping watch for any signs of an ambush.

2. (uncountable) Sentry duty; time spent being a sentry.
3. (nautical) A form of drag to be towed underwater, which on striking bottom is upset and rises to the surface.
4. A watchtower.
5. An animal like a marmot tasked with alerting the pack to danger.

Synonyms

• (nautical drag): kite

Derived terms

• sentry-box
• sentry-go
• sentry post
• stand sentry

 

Translations

guard

• Aromanian: viglã f, cãrãuli f
• Azerbaijani: qarovulçu (az), keşikçi
• Bulgarian: стража (bg) (straža), часови (bg) m (časovi), караул (bg) m (karaul)
• Catalan: sentinella (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哨兵 (zh) (shàobīng), 步哨 (zh) (bùshào)

• Czech: strážný (cs) m
• Dutch: schildwacht (nl)
• Finnish: vartija (fi), vartiomies (fi)
• French: sentinelle (fr) f
• Galician: sentinela (gl)
• German: Wache (de) f, Wachposten (de) m, Schildwache (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌾𐌰 m (wardja)
• Greek: σκοπός (el) (skopós)
• Hindi: सन्तरी (hi) (santarī)
• Italian: sentinella (it) f, guardia (it) f
• Japanese: 歩哨 (ja) (ほしょう, hoshō)
• Korean: 초병(哨兵) (ko) (chobyeong)
• Macedonian: стра́жар (mk) m (strážar), стра́жа f (stráža), ка́раул (káraul) (archaic)
• Maori: kaimataara, matira, kaimatira
• Navajo: haʼasídí
• Persian: یزک (fa) (yazak)
• Polish: strażnik (pl) m
• Portuguese: sentinela (pt)
• Romanian: strajă (ro) f, străjer (ro), santinelă (ro) f, caraulă (ro) f
• Russian: часово́й (ru) m (časovój), карау́льный (ru) m (karaúlʹnyj), дежу́рный (ru) m (dežúrnyj), страж (ru) m (straž)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: стражар m, стража f, дежурни m

  Roman: stražar (sh) m, straža (sh) f, dežurni (sh) m

• Spanish: centinela (es) m
• Swedish: vaktpost c
• Turkish: nöbetçi (tr), gözcü (tr)

watchtower

• French: tourelle (fr) f
• German: Wachturm (de) m
• Macedonian: стража́рница f (stražárnica), кара́ула f (karáula), набљудува́чница f (nabljuduváčnica)

See also

• sentinel

Anagrams

• Tyners