escort

Pronunciation

• IPA: noun: UK /ˈes.kɔːt/, US /ˈes.kɔːrt/; verb: UK /ɪˈskɔːt/, US /esˈkɔːrt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French escorte,^[2][3][4] from Italian scorta (“a guiding”),^[2][3] the noun use of the feminine past participle of scorgere, to guide, conduct,^[4][5] from Vulgar Latin *excorrigere, from ex-, out, and Latin corrigere, to set right (see correct).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A body of armed men guarding a traveller or goods: 1579.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

A person or group accompanying another for protection or honour is from 1745,^[6] the 18th century in Hoad.^[4] The verb is from 1708, at first military,^[3][7] with a social sense from 1890.^[3] A man accompanying a woman to a dance or party is from 1936,^[6] and naval and air escorts from 1914 and 1946.^[6] A person hired to accompany someone socially belongs to later use.^[8]

Timeline

• 1579 – an armed guard.^[2][6]
• 1708 – to escort (verb).^[3][7]
• 1745 – any accompanying person.^[6]
• 1890 – to escort socially.^[3]
• 1914 – a warship escort.^[6]
• 1936 – a woman's escort to a party.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. One or more people or vehicles accompanying another to guide, protect or honour them.
2. A man who accompanies a woman on a social occasion.
3. A person who may be hired to accompany someone socially.

Verb

1. To accompany as an escort.

Word family

• escort carrier
• destroyer escort

Related words

• correct

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins