▪ I. rear-guard1 Mil.
(ˈrɪəgɑːd)
Forms: 5 rier-, ryere-, 5–6 reregarde; 5 rere-, 6 Sc. rearegard; 6 Sc. reir-, 7 rere-, 7– rearguard.
[a. OF. rereguarde, AF. reregard, rergarde (c 1307): see note to arrear-guard and cf. rearward n.1
Variously written rearguard, rear-guard, and rear guard.]
† 1. The rear portion of an army or armed force drawn up for action. Obs. = rear n.3 1, rearward n.1 1.
| 1481 Caxton Godfrey xlv. 85 He kepte alwey the rier garde with grete plente of his peple. c 1500 Melusine 191 The two bretheren..them self toke & conduyted the gret baytayll... And of the reregarde were captayns the two knightes of poytou. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres 57, 1400 armed men, the which are to arme the front and reregard of the battell. 1636 E. Dacres tr. Machiavel's Disc. Livy II. 335 Though they have made their Armie tripartite, terming the one the Vauntguard, the other the Battell, and the last the Rereguard. |
2. a. A body of troops detached from the main force to bring up and protect the rear, esp. in the case of a retreat.
| 1659 Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 417 The King of Denmark..endeavored to make his retreat; but Tilly followed so close his Rear-guard, that he kept them in continual action. 1777 A. St. Clair in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 404 The rear-guard..wasted so much time in the morning, that they were overtaken and surprised. 1811 Wellington Let. 30 Mar. in Gurw. Desp. (1838) VII. 412 The enemy went off towards Setubal, the rear guard in admirable order. 1876 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 330/2 Under such circumstances, seldom more than a fifth or sixth of the total force forms the rear guard. |
| fig. 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. III. 283 If the clergy of America follow the example of other rear-guards of society. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxv. 185 The storm, too, had left a rear-guard behind it. |
b. rear-guard action, a defensive stand by the rear-guard of a retreating army; also fig.
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 6 Jan. 4/3 The worst of all battles to fight—a rearguard action. 1946 Ess. & Stud. XXXI. 46 Yet this scene is a magnificent rear-guard action by Cleopatra. 1954 F. C. Avis Boxing Ref. Dict. 93 Rearguard action, defensive boxing. 1977 World of Cricket Monthly June 29/1 It was left to Murray and Roberts to provide a defiant rearguard action which postponed the end. |
▪ II. rear-guard2
[f. rear n.3]
The guard at the rear of a railway train; or the van he occupies.
| 1897 Daily News 17 Mar. 8/7 The rear-guard of the Hounslow train. |