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fleet sent from the main body on special service. Troops . . . widely scattered in little detachments. Bancroft.

ed in years, with a hard experience written in his wrinkles. Hawthorne. Advanced guard, a detachment of troops which precedes the march of the main body.

d officer in a company of infantry. He places and relieves sentinels. Corporal's guard, a detachment such as would be in charge of a corporal for guard duty, etc.; hence, derisively, a very small number of persons. -- Lance corporal, an assistant corporal on private's pay. Farrow. -- Ship's corporal (Naut.), a petty…

dealer who has sold short does in order to protect himself. -- Covering party (Mil.), a detachment of troops sent for the protection of another detachment, as of men working in the trenches. -- To cover into, to transfer to; as, to cover into the treasury.

Cutting off; division; detachment of a part. [Obs.] Bp. Pearson.

A detachment or separation from a former connection. [R.]

A diversity of direction; detachment. [Obs.] His power went out in such distractions as Beguiled all species. Shak.

The force drawn; a detachment; -- in this sense usually written draft.

undary, strengthened to protect the frontier against hostile incursion. -- Flank patrol, detachments acting independently of the column of an army, but patrolling along its flanks, to secure it against surprise and to observe the movements of the enemy.

The act of insulating, or the state of being insulated; detachment from other objects; isolation.

e state of being joined; union; combination; coalition; as, the junction of two armies or detachments; the junction of paths.

A part of a larger body of company; a detachment; especially (Mil.), a small body of troops dispatched on special service.

The guard or men who go the rounds for observation; a detachment whose duty it is to patrol.

A game at cards. See Piquet. Inlying picket (Mil.), a detachment of troops held in camp or quarters, detailed to march if called upon. -- Picket fence, a fence made of pickets. See def. 2, above. -- Picket guard (Mil.), a guard of horse and foot, always in readiness in case of alarm. -- Picket line. (Mil.) (a) A pos…

number required. -- Strategic position (Mil.), a position taken up by an army or a large detachment of troops for the purpose of checking or observing an opposing force.

cularly into the navy. I have misused the king's press. Shak. Press gang, or Pressgang, a detachment of seamen under the command of an officer empowered to force men into the naval service. See Impress gang, under Impress. -- Press money, money paid to a man enlisted into public service. See Prest money, under Prest,…

A slight fight in war; a light or desultory combat between detachments from armies, or between detached and small bodies of troops.

Sprain fracture (Med.), the separation of a tendon from its point of insertion, with the detachment of a shell of bone to which the tendon is attached.

A detachment of vessels employed on any particular service or station, under the command of the senior officer; as, the North Atlantic Squadron. Totten. Flying squadron, a squadron of observation or practice, that cruises rapidly about from place to place. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

To cause to take a strategic position; as, he threw a detachment of his army across the river.