condition of heightened watchfulness or preparation for action; "bombers were put on alert during the crisis"
very attentive or observant; "an alert and responsive baby is a joy"; "caught by a couple of alert cops"; "alert enough to spot the opportunity when it came"; "constantly alert and vigilant, like a sentinel on duty"
(usually followed by `to') showing acute awareness; mentally perceptive; "alert to the problems"; "alive to what is going on"; "awake to the dangers of her situation"; "was now awake to the reality of his predicament"
not unconscious; especially having become conscious; "the patient is now awake and alert"
American musteline mammal typically ejecting an intensely malodorous fluid when startled; in some classifications put in a separate subfamily Mephitinae
(bridge) a playing card with a value sufficiently high to insure taking a trick in a particular suit; "if my partner has a spade stopper I can bid no trump"
close or secure with or as if with a stopper; "She stoppered the wine bottle"; "The mothers stoppered their babies' mouths with pacifiers"
not held in check or subject to control; "unhampered dissemination of news"; "this would give black people the opportunity to live unhampered by racism"
not slowed or blocked or interfered with; "an outlet for healthy and unhampered action"; "a priest unhampered by scruple"; "the new stock market was unhampered by tradition"