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)
Rhymes: -ɛntɹi
Hyphenation: sen‧try

Noun

sentry (plural sentries)

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

Synonyms

(nautical drag): kite

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)
Italian: sentinella (it) f, guardia (it) f
Japanese: 歩哨 (ja) (ほしょう, hoshō)
Macedonian: стра́жар m (strážar), стра́жа f (stráža), ка́раул (káraul) (archaic)
Maori: kaimataara, matira, kaimatira
Navajo: haʼasídí
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

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

Anagrams

Tyners