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/ˈwɒtʃnaɪt/ · noun
(Christianity) A religious service involving a review of the past year and preparation for the year ahead participated in by Methodists and members of other Christian denominations which usually starts late on New Year's Eve and ends after midnight on New Year's Day; hence, the night that begins on December 31 and ends on January 1..
Holonym: New Year's (holiday-time sense)
Near-synonym: New Year's Eve (not identical to watchnight: New Year's Eve is the entire day before New Year's Day (or specifically its evening), whereas watchnight is the night that begins at sundown on New Year's Eve and ends with sunrise on New Year's Day)
And there is one night in the year I have always observed – the good old Methodist vigil called Watch-night, popularly described as "seeing the old year out and the new year in." […] I have only been a Methodist once a year; and peculiar, accordingly, have my watch-night emotions been. There stands the old portico in —— street; can it be a year since I ascended those steps? These are the aisles, the columns, the pulpit, the recess with its inscriptions, the Christmas evergreens yet fresh over the Communion Table – silent preachers all, that seem to say: "You and I are a year older, friend; but we have seen more watch-nights than you, and are likely to see more yet;[…]["]
This was the first watchnight meeting among the Methodists. The people met at half-past eight; the house was filled from end to end; and "we concluded the year," says [John] Wesley, "wrestling with God in prayer, and praising Him for the wonderful work which He had already wrought upon the earth."
Wesleyan Methodist Twentieth Century Celebration: Order of Watchnight Service to be Held in Every Wesleyan-Methodist Place of Worship in Great Britain on the Night of Monday, 31st December, 1900, Being the Last Night of the Nineteenth Century
The first watch night services ever held in Grace Protestant Episcopal Church were but poorly attended, […]
Use watchnight when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Watchnight means (Christianity) A religious service involving a review of the past year and preparation for the year ahead participated in by Methodists and members of other Christian denominations which usually starts late on New Year's Eve and ends after midnight on New Year's Day; hence, the night that begins on December 31 and ends on January 1..
Common synonyms include New Year's Eve.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
Holonym: New Year's (holiday-time sense)
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Watchnight. December 31 This is a midnight service that summarizes the past year. In recent centuries, the Moravians and early Methodists have celebrated it as a vigil service focusing on newness, the spiritual life, and covenants.
The ſpiritual concerns, ſhall be managed by the preachers; who have ever appointed leaders, choſen ſtewards, and admitted members into, and expelled them, from the ſociety, conſulting their brethren the leaders and ſtewards, according to the rules before mentioned. The preachers alſo as hitherto, are to appoint love-feaſts, and watch-nights, and to vary the time and places of preaching, claſs-meeting, &c.