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On guard   /ɑn gɑrd/   Listen
noun
Guard  n.  
1.
One who, or that which, guards from injury, danger, exposure, or attack; defense; protection. "His greatness was no guard to bar heaven's shaft."
2.
A man, or body of men, stationed to protect or control a person or position; a watch; a sentinel. "The guard which kept the door of the king's house."
3.
One who has charge of a mail coach or a railway train; a conductor. (Eng.)
4.
Any fixture or attachment designed to protect or secure against injury, soiling, or defacement, theft or loss; as:
(a)
That part of a sword hilt which protects the hand.
(b)
Ornamental lace or hem protecting the edge of a garment.
(c)
A chain or cord for fastening a watch to one's person or dress.
(d)
A fence or rail to prevent falling from the deck of a vessel.
(e)
An extension of the deck of a vessel beyond the hull; esp., in side-wheel steam vessels, the framework of strong timbers, which curves out on each side beyond the paddle wheel, and protects it and the shaft against collision.
(f)
A plate of metal, beneath the stock, or the lock frame, of a gun or pistol, having a loop, called a bow, to protect the trigger.
(g)
(Bookbinding) An interleaved strip at the back, as in a scrap book, to guard against its breaking when filled.
5.
A posture of defense in fencing, and in bayonet and saber exercise.
6.
An expression or admission intended to secure against objections or censure. "They have expressed themselves with as few guards and restrictions as I."
7.
Watch; heed; care; attention; as, to keep guard.
8.
(Zool.) The fibrous sheath which covers the phragmacone of the Belemnites. Note: Guard is often used adjectively or in combination; as, guard boat or guardboat; guardroom or guard room; guard duty.
Advanced guard, Coast guard, etc. See under Advanced, Coast, etc.
Grand guard (Mil.), one of the posts of the second line belonging to a system of advance posts of an army.
Guard boat.
(a)
A boat appointed to row the rounds among ships of war in a harbor, to see that their officers keep a good lookout.
(b)
A boat used by harbor authorities to enforce the observance of quarantine regulations.
Guard cells (Bot.), the bordering cells of stomates; they are crescent-shaped and contain chlorophyll.
Guard chamber, a guardroom.
Guard detail (Mil.), men from a company regiment etc., detailed for guard duty.
Guard duty (Mil.), the duty of watching patrolling, etc., performed by a sentinel or sentinels.
Guard lock (Engin.), a tide lock at the mouth of a dock or basin.
Guard of honor (Mil.), a guard appointed to receive or to accompany eminent persons.
Guard rail (Railroads), a rail placed on the inside of a main rail, on bridges, at switches, etc., as a safeguard against derailment.
Guard ship, a war vessel appointed to superintend the marine affairs in a harbor, and also, in the English service, to receive seamen till they can be distributed among their respective ships.
Life guard (Mil.), a body of select troops attending the person of a prince or high officer.
Off one's guard, in a careless state; inattentive; unsuspicious of danger.
On guard, serving in the capacity of a guard; doing duty as a guard or sentinel; watching.
On one's guard, in a watchful state; alert; vigilant.
To mount guard (Mil.), to go on duty as a guard or sentinel.
To run the guard, to pass the watch or sentinel without leave.
Synonyms: Defense; shield; protection; safeguard; convoy; escort; care; attention; watch; heed.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"On guard" Quotes from Famous Books



... in regard to its prudent management, its reception-rooms, and doorkeepers, and especially the porters. To this end it would be desirable to inspect the said seminary often, and that its superior should place only approved persons on guard in the house and residence of those who are inmates, so that it may be as well secured and safe as is right; and that with its inmates, if they are guilty, the measures provided for by the sacred canons and councils should be taken. For it is not right that a house ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 • Emma Helen Blair
... days, my life was uniform and rather dull, but on the sixth day the same French officer was on guard, and I was very glad to see him. He told me, with a hearty laugh, that he was delighted to find me still in the guard-house, and I accepted the compliment for what it was worth. In the evening, we had the same bank ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
... that in making Canada a citadel of the state religion—a holy of holies of exclusive Roman Catholic orthodoxy,—the clerical monitors of the Crown robbed their country of a trans-Atlantic empire. New France could not grow with a priest on guard at the gate to let in none but such as pleased him. One of the ablest of Canadian governors, La Galissoniere, seeing the feebleness of the colony compared with the vastness of its claims, advised the King to send ten thousand peasants to occupy the valley of the Ohio, and hold ...
— Montcalm and Wolfe • Francis Parkman
... on the faith of a mere indication, to a vague object, miss our end, curse our luck, improvise to ourselves elegies, dithyrambics, exclaim idiotically before inoffensive pedestrians who observe us, knock over old apple-women and their baskets, run hither and thither, stand on guard beneath a window, make a thousand suppositions. But, after all, it is a chase, a hunt; a hunt in Paris, a hunt with all its chances, minus dogs and guns and the tally-ho! Nothing compares with it but the life of gamblers. But it needs a heart big with ...
— Ferragus • Honore de Balzac
... died himself, has found many a parallel in real life. A well-known dog in the days of the Stewarts was still beside his master's tomb three years after the latter's death; and, in much later times, another dog, at Lisle, refused to come away from the spot where his master lay, and remained on guard for nine long years, the villagers recognising his fidelity by building him a kennel and bringing him his daily ...
— 'Murphy' - A Message to Dog Lovers • Major Gambier-Parry


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