corporal's guard
Americannoun
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Military. any small detachment.
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any small group, as of followers.
Etymology
Origin of corporal's guard
An Americanism dating back to 1835–45
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In trying to cover the four-power talks on Germany, the foreign press corps in Moscow, now down to a corporal's guard, ran into a new kind of four-power agreement: an unbroken compact of silence.
From Time Magazine Archive
Just then Chou and a corporal's guard of officials come casually out.
From Time Magazine Archive
As the OAS troops marched in to guard the building, Imbert's soldiers reluctantly got into trucks and withdrew, leaving behind only a corporal's guard of 25 men.
From Time Magazine Archive
The nomination of Tom Dewey conclusively routed the corporal's guard of Republican isolationists.
From Time Magazine Archive
I myself counted one hundred and thirty graves, or rather holes, loosely covered over with earth, close together, many of them large enough to hold a corporal’s guard.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
