guard

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ɡɑːd/, US /ɡɑːrd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English garde,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French garde (“guardian, keeper; custody”),^[4][2] from garder (“to keep, protect”) or guarder,^[4][2] from Frankish *wardōn,^[4][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *wardōną (“to guard”),^[4] from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to perceive, watch out for”).^[4] The Franks brought the word into Romance, where the w- became g(u)-;^[6] Italian guardare and Spanish guardar also come from it.^[4] It is a doublet of ward, and related to warden, guardian and wardrobe.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Keeping, custody: 1426 in the OED,^[7] about 1400 in Barnhart, as care or protection, with an earlier surname Legard (1275).^[2] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century, also as one who keeps watch and a body of soldiers.^[4]

Semantic evolution

A protector or defender is from the 15th century, and a body of defenders and “protection, defence” from the 16th.^[5] The verb, to protect, is from 1448 in Barnhart^[2] or about 1500 in Merriam-Webster.^[3] A posture of defence in fencing and boxing is from the 1590s,^[4][7] hence on guard (1640s) and off one's guard (1680s);^[4] the OED dates on one's guard to 1577 and off one's guard to 1682.^[7] A guard as a welt or border of a garment, and the verb “to trim with braid or lace”, from 1500, appear in Holland's and North's Plutarch,^[8][7] and Trench took them as a special use of the same word.^[8] A guard in cricket is from 1843,^[7] and in American football from 1889.^[4] The guard-rail is from 1860, first on railway tracks.^[4]

Timeline

• 1426 – custody.^[7]
• 1448 – verb, to protect.^[2]
• c. 1500 – to trim a garment.^[7]
• 1577 – on one's guard.^[7]
• 1590s – a defensive posture.^[4]
• 1682 – off one's guard.^[7]
• 1843 – in cricket.^[7]
• 1860 – guard-rail.^[4]
• 1889 – in football.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person or group that protects or watches over; a sentry.
2. A body of soldiers, as one attending a sovereign.
3. Protection; a state of watchfulness: on guard.
4. A device that prevents injury or damage.
5. A defensive posture in fencing or boxing.
6. A player in certain positions in basketball or American football.
7. (British) The official in charge of a train.

Verb

1. To protect from harm by watching over.
2. To watch over so as to prevent escape.
3. To keep an opponent from scoring.
4. To take precautions: to guard against error.

Word family

• guarder
• guardable
• guardless
• guardlike
• unguard
• guardee

Related words

• ward
• warden
• guardian
• wardrobe
• regard
• guarantee
• beware

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 f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker