sentinel

Plural: sentinels

Noun

a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
A sentry, watch, or guard.
A private soldier.
A unique value recognised by a computer program for processing in a special way, or marking the end of a set of data.
A sentinel crab.
A sign of a health risk (e.g. a disease, an adverse effect).

Verb

Verb Forms: sentineled, sentineling, sentinels, sentinelled, sentinelling

To stand guard over or as if over a specific area.
To watch over as a guard.
To post a guard for.

Examples

He had to ’SENTINEL’ his high-scoring spots, blocking any easy access for his opponent.
He sentineled the north wall with just one man.
He sentineled the north wall.
sentinel animals can be used to explore endemic diseases.
The <xmp> tag is a sentinel that suspends web-page processing and displays the subsequent text literally

Origin / Etymology

1570s, from Middle French sentinelle, from Old Italian sentinella (perhaps via a notion of "perceive, watch", compare Italian sentire (“to feel, hear, smell”)), from Latin sentiō (“feel, perceive by the senses”). See sense, sentient.

Synonyms

lookout, lookout man, picket, scout, sentry, spotter, watch

Scrabble Score: 8

sentinel: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
sentinel: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
sentinel: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

sentinel: valid Words With Friends Word