rearguard

See also: rear-guard

English

Alternative forms

• rear guard, rear-guard

Etymology

From rear +‎ guard. Attested in The Song of Roland circa 1150 (rereguarde). Doublet of retrogarde.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪəɹˌɡɑɹd/

Noun

rearguard (plural rearguards)

1. (military) The rearmost part of a force, especially a detachment of troops that protect the rear of a retreating force.
2. (soccer) The defence, collectively the defenders.
   • 2011 January 22, Phil McNulty, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Man City”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Mancini's side only showed enough ambition when it was too late and by then battle lines were drawn as James Collins and former City captain Richard Dunne fought a magnificent rearguard action at the heart of Villa's defence.

Usage notes

• Usually used attributively.

Antonyms

• vanguard

Coordinate terms

• (rearmost part of a troop): backstop

Derived terms

• rearguard action

Translations

the rearmost part of a force

• Bulgarian: ариергард m (ariergard)
• Catalan: rereguarda f
• Dutch: achterhoede (nl)
• Finnish: jälkijoukko
• French: arrière-garde (fr) f
• German: Nachhut (de) f
• Greek: οπισθοφυλακή (el) f (opisthofylakí)

  Ancient: οὐραγία f (ouragía), ὀπισθοφύλακες m pl (opisthophúlakes)

• Hebrew: מְאַסֵּף (he) m (measéf)
• Latvian: arjergards (lv) m
• Macedonian: заштитница f (zaštitnica)
• Maori: whakatautopenga, pūmanawa, hiku
• Norwegian: baktropp m
• Polish: ariergarda (pl) f, straż tylna (pl) f
• Portuguese: retaguarda (pt) f
• Russian: арьерга́рд (ru) m (arʹjergárd)
• Spanish: retaguardia (es) f, rezaga (es) f
• Turkish: artçı (tr), dümdar (tr)
• Vietnamese: đạo quân hậu tập

soccer: defence

• Bulgarian: защита (bg) f (zaštita)
• Finnish: puolustus (fi)
• Portuguese: zaga (pt) f (Brazil)