Definition

1. Verb (archaic/literary):
   • To announce the watches (of the night): To mark the passage of the night watches (traditional timekeeping periods) by sounding a drum or other signal.
2. Adjective/Adverb (figurative, modern usage):
   • Sporadic; intermittent; at intervals: Describing a sound or action that occurs rhythmically or repeatedly with pauses in between, often heard during the night. It conveys a sense of something happening steadily but not continuously.

Usage Examples

• Verb (archaic):
  • Người lính gác có nhiệm vụ cầm canh. (The guard's duty was to announce the night watches.)
• Adjective/Adverb (figurative):
  • Tiếng súng vang lên cầm canh suốt đêm. (The sound of gunfire echoed sporadically throughout the night.)
  • Chỉ còn tiếng chó sủa cầm canh. (Only the intermittent barking of dogs remained.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is primarily used in a literary or descriptive context to evoke a specific atmosphere, often of loneliness, vigilance, or a long, eventful night.
• It frequently modifies sounds (gunfire, drums, barking, a clock) that punctuate the silence.

Variants and Related Words

• Trống cầm canh (n): The watch-announcing drum; the tom-tom used to mark the night watches.
  • Tiếng trống cầm canh vang vọng trong thành. (The sound of the watch drum echoed within the citadel.)

Synonyms

• Sporadic: occurring at irregular intervals.
• Intermittent: starting and stopping at intervals.
• Rhythmic: having a regular repeated pattern of sound or movement.
• Periodic: appearing or occurring at regular intervals.

Related Idioms

• Canh khuya: The late watches of the night; midnight.
  • Làm việc đến canh khuya. (To work until the dead of night.)

1. Watch-announcing
   • trống cầm canh
     the watch-announcing tomtom
2. Sporadic
   • tiếng súng bắn lúc dồn dập, lúc cầm canh
     the shelling was now fast and thick, now sporadic