a volunteer part-time military force recruited for the defence of the United Kingdom in World War II
(in various countries) a civil defence and reserve militia organization
First recorded in 1735–45
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He said two of the dead were members of the home guard, a voluntary force that helps police control civil disturbances.
From Reuters • Aug. 1, 2023
But down the road, Alexander Gorbenko, 54, was unconvinced by efforts to rally the home guard.
From Washington Post • Feb. 25, 2022
The former commander of the British battalion of the International Brigade, Tom Wintringham, approached the government with plans for a home guard.
From The Guardian • Oct. 22, 2020
It recounted the redoubtable but often hapless fictional exploits of a home guard brigade in Walmington-on-Sea during World War Two.
From BBC • Nov. 28, 2017
By time I came along, most everybody in Banks County thought General Tweedy had been a high monkity-monk in the Army of the Confederacy instead of just in the home guard.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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.
