/ · 1894 Brewer’s · A · Alert
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To be on the watch. From the Latin erectus, part. of erigĕre, to set upright; Italian, erto; French, erte, a watch-tower. Hence the Italian starë allʹ erta, the Spanish estar alerta, and the French être à lʹerte, to be on the watch.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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