People or organizations that carefully monitor activities, especially by government or businesses, to prevent wrongdoing; also, literal dogs that guard property.
From 'watch' (to observe) + 'dogs' (the animal). Originally literal—dogs that guarded property and 'watched' it. The metaphorical sense of 'watchdog' as a protective monitor developed in the 19th century as a natural extension of the dog's protective role.
The metaphor of watchdogs is so perfect that we've completely made it abstract: 'consumer watchdog,' 'environmental watchdog.' But it started with actual dogs who would bark and alert shepherds to danger. Now we've replaced barking with investigative journalism!
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