home guard

noun

a volunteer force used for meeting local emergencies when the regular armed forces are needed elsewhere.

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Origin of home guard

First recorded in 1735–45

Words nearby home guard

home farm, home free, home fries, home front, home ground, home guard, home health aide, home help, home in on, home invasion, home key

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for home guard

In other cases bands of Rebels scoured the country, went to the house of every Home-Guard, and took away his musket.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862|Various
Maybe enlisting in the home-guard will prove a wise step for the first one.
Kathie's Soldiers|Amanda Minnie Douglas
They are of the more conservative "home-guard" element and characterized by the psychology of all factory workers.
The Centralia Conspiracy|Ralph Chaplin
What is it gives a cold in the head, cures a cold, pays the doctor's bill and makes the home-guard look for substitutes?
Our American Cousin|Tom Taylor

At this period the Home-guard organizations were disbanding, or being incorporated into the Federal army.
History of Morgan's Cavalry|Basil W. Duke

British Dictionary definitions for home guard

Home Guard

noun

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

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