Watchfire

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A controlled outdoor fire used for signaling or watching over an area during nighttime
2. a beacon that provides light and warmth while undergoing supervision
3. a fire maintained for the purpose of observing surroundings or providing a point of reference in the dark

Etymology: A watchfire is about as transparent as compounds get: "watch" plus "fire," with the fire doing the job its name suggests. The older sense of "watch" is the one at work here, a period of keeping alert, so a watchfire was a blaze kept burning through the night so that someone could stay on guard, whether to keep an eye on the surroundings or to give those outside a lit point to steer by. The word's appeal lies in how literally it describes its job. Where a campfire is for warmth or cooking, a watchfire is defined by its purpose: it exists so that people can see and be seen. The compound shows the logic of the older English habit of naming things by what they were for, rather than by what they were made of.