Definition of "watch-light" [watch-light]

• A light kept burning at night, as for the use of a watcher in the sick-room. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "'Why, it suggested to me words one night: it poured a strain which I could have written down, only I was appalled, and dared not rise to seek pencil and paper by the dim watch-light."
• "I must add that, during the night, the phosphorescent waters of the Gulf Stream rivalled the electric power of our watch-light, especially in the stormy weather that threatened us so frequently."
• "Then, when he had finished, he went and leant on the cage of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly on the ocean."