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home guard

noun
  1. 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
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for home guard

Historical Examples of home guard

  • Being large and able-bodied, I enrolled with the home-guard.

    Incidents of the War: Humorous, Pathetic, and Descriptive

    Alf Burnett

  • This home-guard was placed under command of the king in person.

    The Gorilla Hunters

    R.M. Ballantyne

  • But we were the home-guard, and our own lives were nothing to us, if only we could save the defenceless.

    The Price of the Prairie

    Margaret Hill McCarter

  • We looked to see the militia fire and run, home-guard fashion; but these men of Pickens's were made of more soldierly stuff.

  • Go thou and Hake back to the huts as fast as may be, and order the home-guard to make all needful preparation.

British Dictionary definitions for home guard

Home Guard

noun
  1. a volunteer part-time military force recruited for the defence of the United Kingdom in World War II
  2. (in various countries) a civil defence and reserve militia organization
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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