GUERRILLA • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Guerrilla

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/gərˈɪlə/ Listen

noun

Guerrilla n.

An irregular mode of carrying on war, by the constant attacks of independent bands, adopted in the north of Spain during the Peninsular war.

One who carries on, or assists in carrying on, irregular warfare; especially, a member of an independent band engaged in predatory excursions in war time. Note: The term guerrilla is the diminutive of the Spanish word guerra, war, and means petty war, that is, war carried on by detached parties; generally in the mountains.... A guerrilla party means, an irregular band of armed men, carrying on an irregular war, not being able, according to their character as a guerrilla party, to carry on what the law terms a regular war.

adjective

Guerrilla adj. Pertaining to, or engaged in, warfare carried on irregularly and by independent bands; as, a guerrilla party; guerrilla warfare.

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Etymology of 'Guerrilla'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Guerrilla" Quotes from Famous Books

... flirted behind ostrich fans with stiff lean-faced lovers. Then Goya's Madrid: riots in the Puerta del Sol, majas leaning from balconies, the fair of San Isidro by the river, scuttling of ragged guerrilla bands, brigands and patriots; tramp of the stiffnecked grenadiers of Napoleon; pompous little men in short-tailed wigs dying the dos de Mayo with phrases from Mirabeau on their lips under the brick ...

— Rosinante to the Road Again • John Dos Passos

... military as well as his official superior, and grew to feel towards him as his immediate followers felt toward Napoleon—to love him with a devoted respect, a respecting devotion. He recognized in him the born guerrilla leader—and more, the trained guerrilla leader, and wondered where on earth this strange civilian had garnered his practical military ...

— Driftwood Spars - The Stories of a Man, a Boy, a Woman, and Certain Other People Who - Strangely Met Upon the Sea of Life • Percival Christopher Wren

... party of the United States. It may be decisive, one way or the other. If we beat them, we may have peace. If they beat us—although the war will not and cannot terminate—it may degenerate into a guerrilla warfare, ...

— A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital • John Beauchamp Jones

... now in command of the Canadian frontier, with a force of militia. The American troops quickly forced the abandonment of Navy Island, scattered the insurgents and their allies to secret retreats, and broke up the guerrilla warfare. The loss of life among the patriots, due to their audacity and incompetent leadership, was considerable, and the treatment of prisoners harsh and in some instances inhuman. Many young men of intelligence and character were banished for life to Van Dieman's Land, McKenzie was thrown into ...

— A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 • DeAlva Stanwood Alexander

... them were athletic triumphs, and athletics meant little to him. He had long ceased to worship them. Because a man could make a big score in a House match, it did not mean that he was in any way fit for the battle of life; and what else had he done? He had carried on guerrilla warfare with "the Bull." It had never come to a real head; so little does. Most things are left unaccomplished in the end; and what had he gained by this contest, and what had been the use of it? "The Bull" was one of the few really fine masters ...

— The Loom of Youth • Alec Waugh

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