Guardian Angels

British

plural noun

vigilante volunteers who patrol the underground railway in New York, London, and elsewhere, wearing red berets, to deter violent crime

"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

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.

He waded through the crowd in a knot of security guys, several wearing the iconic red berets of Sliwa’s vigilante organization, the Guardian Angels.

From Slate • Nov. 5, 2025

Sliwa -- once a night manager of a McDonald's restaurant in New York -- made his name with the Guardian Angels subway patrol group, which still sees him routinely sport a red beret.

From Barron's • Nov. 2, 2025

As the founder of the Guardian Angels, a New York City organization devoted to crime prevention, he seized the opportunity to connect with voters.

From BBC • Oct. 16, 2025

Sliwa’s favorite campaign spot is the subway, which the former Bronx McDonald’s manager started patrolling in the 1970s after founding his anticrime organization Guardian Angels.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 7, 2025

The parts of Skylab that fell to Earth would—conveniently—fall on the bathroom block at Guardian Angels.

From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023