Guard Meaning
/ɡɑːd/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA person who, or thing that, protects or watches over something.
nounA garda; a police officer.
Sentence Examples
It caught me off guard; I didn't know what to do.
Guard against the danger of fire.
The machine comes with a plastic guard over the blade to protect the operator.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The security ____ carefully stayed awake all night to watch the entrance.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The security ____ patrolled the perimeter of the building every hour to make sure that all the doors were locked.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wer- Proto-Indo-European *wor-tús Proto-Germanic *warduz Proto-Germanic *-āną Proto-Germanic *wardō Proto-Germanic *-āną Proto-Germanic *wardāną Frankish *wardēnbor. Early Medieval Latin wardō Old French guarder Old French guardebor. Middle English garde English guard From Middle English garde, from early Middle French or late Old French guarde (“a guardian, warden, keeper”) (whence modern French garde), from the verb guarder. Doublet of garda, which is from Irish.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"The Garda Regulations 1924 required a candidate for appointment as a guard to be able to produce satisfactory references as to his character"
— 2016, Anastasia Dukova, A History of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and its Colonial Legacy, Springer, →ISBN, page 139:
"Another possible way is to go for a lower profile tyre (50 series). This effectively lowers the distance of the tyre wall away from the guard (not by much though and generally, the lower the profile, the wider the tyre so the tyre may stick out more as well)."
— 1996 December 24, Pendles, “Tyres rubbing on guards”, in aus.cars (Usenet):
"The reason I'm asking - Whenever I put some weight in the back of the car (say - a passenger or two) the rear tyres can sometimes hit the guards."
— 1999 November 23, Nathan, “Tyres rubbing on guards”, in aus.cars (Usenet):
"I had just bought myself broken headlights, a f**ked up grill, a front guard bent into my front tyre, a leaky radiator and one *SLIGHTLY* bent chassis rail end. I turned the key on my stalled motor and she kicked over first go - if it weren't for the guard bent into the tyre, I could've driven home later if I wanted to."
— 2001 June 12, Confusement, “Position N or D”, in alt.autos (Usenet):
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The security ____ carefully stayed awake all night to watch the entrance.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The security ____ patrolled the perimeter of the building every hour to make sure that all the doors were locked.