color guard en · NOUN
Etymology
From color (“flag”) + guard.
Meanings
-
(qualifier:scouting) A uniformed group, especially of soldiers, police officers, Scouts, or school representatives, who present their institution's flag (and sometimes other flags) on ceremonial occasions.
The survivors fell sullenly back behind a fence, within easy range of the Confederate rifle-pits. Just before reaching it the last of the color guard was shot, and the flag fell in the open.
1895, Henry Cabot Lodge, Theodore Roosevelt, “The Flag-Bearer”, in Hero Tales from American History:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| colour guard | UK, alternative | lexicographic | |
| color-guard | alternative | lexicographic | |
| color guards | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| colorguard | alternative | lexicographic |