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
At Harry's, in the Rue Daunou, a corporal's guard of left-over G.I.s still sipped watery beer.
From Time Magazine Archive
To Trustbuster Arnold the words are simply a challenge, and a reason for larger anti-trust appropriations: "You cannot police a country of 130,000,000 people with a corporal's guard."
From Time Magazine Archive
When Congress denied further funds for 'Quoddy. thousands of men were laid off until only a corporal's guard was left.
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.
