picket

Noun

• a form of military punishment used by the British in the late 17th century in which a soldier was forced to stand on one foot on a pointed stake

• a wooden strip forming part of a fence

• a vehicle performing sentinel duty

• a protester posted by a labor organization outside a place of work

• a detachment of troops guarding an army from surprise attack

• a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event

Verb

• fasten with a picket
  • picket the goat
    

• serve as pickets or post pickets
  • picket a business to protest the layoffs
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  piquet , pale , lookout , lookout man , sentinel , sentry , watch , spotter , scout