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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

sentinel en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (US) audio
  • /ˈsɛn.tɪ.nəl/

Etymology

First attested in the 1570s from Middle French sentinelle (“watch or guard kept by a soldier”), from Old Italian sentinella, probably from sentina + -ella, from sentire (“perceive, watch, hear”), from sentiō (“feel, perceive by the senses”). See also sense, sentient.

Meanings

  1. A sentry, watch, or guard.
    • They promised faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, and were very thankful that they had such good usage as to have provisions and light left them; for Friday gave them candles (such as we made ourselves) for their comfort; and they did not know but that he stood sentinel over them at the entrance. 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
    • that princes do keep due sentinel 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Empire”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
    • the sentinels who paced the ramparts 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
  2. (obsolete) A private soldier.
    • “I will not permit the poorest centinel to be treated with injustice.” 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 33:
  3. A unique value recognised by a computer program for processing in a special way, or marking the end of a set of data.
    • The <xmp> tag is a sentinel that suspends web-page processing and displays the subsequent text literally
    • […] a sentinel value that indicates a missing entry. 2016, Jake VanderPlas, Python Data Science Handbook, page 120:
  4. A sentinel crab.
  5. (attributive) A sign of a health risk (e.g. a disease, an adverse effect).
    • sentinel animals can be used to explore endemic diseases.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
centinel alternative, obsolete lexicographic
sentinels Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

sentinelship · nonsentinel · Senner · Senfic · biosentinel · stand sentinel · sentinel event · sentinelwise

Translations (78)

sv vaktpost (a sentry or guard) · ru часово́й (a sentry or guard) · ga fairtheoir (a unique phrase of characters) · gl sentinela (a sentry or guard) · la excubitor (a sentry or guard) · kmr nobetdar (a sentry or guard) · cy gwarchodwr (a sentry or guard) · cs stráž (a sentry or guard) · tr gözcü (a sentry or guard) · ko 초병 (a sentry or guard) · sk hliadka (a sentry or guard) · pt sentinela (a sentry or guard) · ca sentinella (a sentry or guard) · nl wacht (a sentry or guard) · ar خَفِير (a sentry or guard) · kk күзетші (a sentry or guard) · cy gwyliwr (a sentry or guard) · sv skyltvakt (a sentry or guard) · de Schlüsselwort (a unique phrase of characters) · el φρουρός (a sentry or guard) · be вартавы́ (a sentry or guard) · fa-ira پاسْدار (a sentry or guard) · sh стра̀жа̄р (a sentry or guard) · ko 보초병 (a sentry or guard) · pt vigia (a sentry or guard) · hi प्रहरी (a sentry or guard) · uk вартови́й (a sentry or guard) · la custos (a sentry or guard) · ota نوبت (a sentry or guard) · es centinela (a sentry or guard) · mk стражар (a sentry or guard) · da skildvagt (a sentry or guard) · de Markierung (a unique phrase of characters) · ko 감시병 (a sentry or guard) · sl stražar (a sentry or guard) · tr sembol (a unique phrase of characters) · kmr zêrevan (a sentry or guard) · de Wachposten (a sentry or guard) · tr nöbetçi (a sentry or guard) · fi vartija (a sentry or guard) · cmn 哨兵 (a sentry or guard) · de Wächter (a sentry or guard) · nv haʼasídí (a sentry or guard) · la praeses (a sentry or guard) · de Wächterin (a sentry or guard) · ja 番兵 (a sentry or guard) · da vagtpost (a sentry or guard) · el σκοπός (a sentry or guard) · bg часови́ (a sentry or guard) · pl strażnik (a sentry or guard) · ru охра́нник (a sentry or guard) · ar غَفِير (a sentry or guard) · ga fairtheoir (a sentry or guard) · sh stràžār (a sentry or guard) · pl wartownik (a sentry or guard) · fi vahti (a unique phrase of characters) · fr factionnaire (a sentry or guard) · bg страж (a sentry or guard) · fi vahti (a sentry or guard) · ar حَارِس (a sentry or guard) · it sentinella (a sentry or guard) · bg часово́й (a sentry or guard) · sk stráž (a sentry or guard) · cmn 步哨 (a sentry or guard) · gd freiceadan (a sentry or guard) · arz غفير (a sentry or guard) · kmr çavdêr (a sentry or guard) · tr koruyucu (a sentry or guard) · ja 歩哨 (a sentry or guard) · la vigil (a sentry or guard) · hu őrszem (a sentry or guard) · ru карау́льный (a sentry or guard) · ru страж (a sentry or guard) · cs hlídka (a sentry or guard) · de Wache (a sentry or guard) · tr simge (a unique phrase of characters) · fr sentinelle (a sentry or guard) · fa-ira نِگَهْبان (a sentry or guard)

sentinel en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • (US) audio
  • /ˈsɛn.tɪ.nəl/

Etymology

First attested in the 1570s from Middle French sentinelle (“watch or guard kept by a soldier”), from Old Italian sentinella, probably from sentina + -ella, from sentire (“perceive, watch, hear”), from sentiō (“feel, perceive by the senses”). See also sense, sentient.

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To watch over as a guard.
    • He sentineled the north wall.
  2. (transitive) To post a guard for.
    • He sentineled the north wall with just one man.
    • The old-fashioned stoop, with its suggestive benches on either side, lay solitary and silent in the moonlight; the garden path, weedily overgrown since father's death, and sentineled here and there with ragged hollyhock, lay quiet and dew-laden […] 1873, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume 46, page 562:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
sentinelled Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part UK lexicographic
sentinelled Tense=Past UK lexicographic
sentineling Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part US lexicographic
sentineled Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part US lexicographic
sentineled Tense=Past US lexicographic
sentinelling Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part UK lexicographic
centinel alternative, obsolete lexicographic
sentinels Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Translations (8)

fi vartioida (To watch over something as a guard) · bg охранявам (To watch over something as a guard) · uk охороняти (To watch over something as a guard) · fi vahtia (To watch over something as a guard) · da stå vagt (To watch over something as a guard) · fr regarder (To watch over something as a guard) · de bewachen (To watch over something as a guard) · pt vigiar (To watch over something as a guard)