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definitions

Coast Guard

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noun

U.S. Military. a military service under the Department of Transportation, which in peacetime enforces maritime laws, saves lives and property at sea, and maintains aids to navigation, and which in wartime may be placed under the Navy Department to augment the navy.
(lowercase) any similar organization for aiding navigation, preventing smuggling, etc.
(lowercase) Also called coastguardsman. a member of any such organization.

Origin of Coast Guard

First recorded in 1825–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for coastguard

Historical Examples of coastguard

  • The faint hope that it might prove to be a coastguard was soon dispelled.

    The Slave Of The Lamp

    Henry Seton Merriman

  • Last night only the coastguard police caught four men at it—all Germans.

    Michael

    E. F. Benson

  • He will get into trouble one of these days with the coastguard people, I tell him.

  • The coastguard had considered the ship was French, with a rig altered since she was built.

  • She wondered if it was her duty to tell the coastguard all that she and Alan suspected.

British Dictionary definitions for coastguard

coastguard

noun

a maritime force which aids shipping, saves lives at sea, prevents smuggling, etc
Also called: coastguardsman a member of such a force
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012