Search the Dictionary

d, fearing you would not come; Now sadder, that you come so unprovided. Shak. The angelic guards ascended, mute and sad. Milton.

e holy man, amazed at what he saw, Made haste to sanctify the bliss by law. Dryden. Truth guards the poet, sanctifies the line. Pope.

One who watches or guards; specifically (Mil.), a soldier set to guard an army, camp, or other place, from surprise, to observe the approach of danger, and give notice of it; a sentry. The sentinels who paced the ramparts. Macaulay.

portion of silver. -- Silver stick, a title given to the title field officer of the Life Guards when on duty at the palace. [Eng.] Thackeray. -- Silver tree (Bot.), a South African tree (Leucadendron argenteum) with long, silvery, silky leaves. -- Silver trout, (Zoöl.) See Trout. -- Silver wedding. See under Weddin…

y, unfitness, absurdity, or impropriety, as in deeds or manners. Cæsar, by dismissing his guards and retaining his power, committed a dangerous solecism in politics. C. Middleton. The idea of having committed the slightest solecism in politeness was agony to him. Sir W. Scott.

One of the slanting supports under the guards of a steamboat.

To insnare; to trap; to trapan. Guards even of a dozen men were silently trepanned from their stations. De Quincey.

One who guards, protects, watches over, or has the care of, some person or thing. Specifically: --

One who, or that which, guards; garrison; defender; protector; means of guarding; defense; protection. For the best ward of mine honor. Shak. The assieged castle's ward Their steadfast stands did mightily maintain. Spenser. For want of other ward, He lifted up his hand, his front to guard. Dryden.

An officer who keeps or guards; a keeper; as, the warden of a prison.

Specifically, one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night. Watchman beetle (Zoöl.), the European dor. -- Watchman's clock, a watchman's detector in which the apparatus for recording the times of visiting several stations is contained within a single clock. -- Watchman's detector, or Watchman's time…

A word given to sentinels, and to such as have occasion to visit the guards, used as a signal by which a friend is known from an enemy, or a person who has a right to pass the watch from one who has not; a countersign; a password.