lifeguard

Etymology

It is a compound from English life + guard,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} probably modelled on a formation in a continental Germanic language: the OED compares Swedish livgarde (1597), German Leibgarde (about 1600) and Dutch lijfgarde (1677), all literally "bodyguard".^[2] Etymonline takes it as a translation of the German word,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford notes that the first element in these words meant "body".^[4] The Germanic forms all seem to go back to French garde du corps, the model of bodyguard.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bodyguard of soldiers: 1632, in a translation of The Swedish Discipline.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1640s, for the bodyguard of a British monarch,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1640–50.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) knew only the guard of a king's person.^[7] From 1647 the word was also used of anything that protects a person's life, a sense now rare.^[2][4] In modern use the plural Life Guards names the senior cavalry regiment of the British Army.^[2][4] From 1864 it was a fender on a locomotive or tramcar that kept people and obstructions away from the wheels.^[2][4] The sense of a swimmer employed to watch over bathers arose in the United States: Etymonline finds it by 1891,^[3] the OED from 1893, in the New-York Times,^[2] and Merriam-Webster dates it to 1896.^[6] According to Hendrickson, the older OED credited the first record of this sense to William Dean Howells in 1896.^[8] The verb, "to protect as a lifeguard", is recorded once in 1690;^[2] the modern verb, to work as a lifeguard, is also originally American, from 1935.^[2]

Timeline

• 1632 – a bodyguard of soldiers.^[2][4]
• 1647 – anything that guards or protects a person's life.^[2]
• 1690 – verb, to protect, safeguard (obsolete).^[2]
• 1864 – a fender on a locomotive or tramcar.^[2]
• 1893 – a swimmer employed to rescue bathers.^[2] Etymonline finds it by 1891.^[3]
• 1935 – verb, to work as a lifeguard.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An expert swimmer employed at a beach or swimming pool to watch over bathers and rescue anyone in danger of drowning: The lifeguard blew her whistle at the boys diving off the pier.^[9][6][2]
2. A bodyguard of soldiers; in the plural Life Guards, the senior cavalry regiment of the British Army.^[2][4][7]
3. A guard or fender on a locomotive or tramcar that keeps obstructions from the wheels.^[2][4]
4. (rare) Something that guards or protects a person's life.^[2][4][6]

Verb

1. To work as a lifeguard.^[6][2]
2. To guard or protect the life of a person.^[6]

Related words

• bodyguard
• life
• guard
• safeguard

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins