DCHP-1 Online

guard

• 1 n. Hist. an enclosed pasture near a fur post or fort where spare horses were kept under surveillance.

  See also: horseguard (def. 1)  

  • 1857  (1863)  Despatch the horses to the Company's 'guard,' distant 10 miles down the other side of the river.
  • 1872  (1873)  Every station of the Hudson's Bay Company has a "guard," or judiciously selected spot, well supplied with good water, wood, pasturage, and shelter, where the horses are kept.
  • 1956  From the seventy horses grazing in the guard he chose a number for riding and drawing wagon and carts. . . .

• 2 n. West See quote.

  • 1963  Usually everyone did a two-hour spell of night herd, or "guard" as it was sometimes called. . . .

• 3a n. a strip of land, usually ploughed but sometimes burned free of grass, intended to stop the advance of a grass fire or a prairie fire.

  See also: fireguard ((n.)) (def. 1)  

  • 1902  The guard must be disked, so that all the weeds and grass are cut off.
  • 1905  (1910)  When Mr. Conrad arrived he promptly helped me with the plough, and we finished the furrow. He, thinking the guard was large enough, got the horses inside.

• 3b n. in the bush, a strip of land cleared of trees and brush and intended to stop the advance of a forest fire.

  See also: firebreak (def. 3)  

  • 1955  I told them I would show them just where the guard had to be cut, as I had already decided on a likely spot while surveying the position.
  • 1958  One blaze . . . jumped its guards Monday night and 35 men were attempting to stop it.