color guard

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From color (“flag”) +‎ guard.

Noun

color guard (plural color guards)

  1. (military, scouting) A uniformed group, especially of soldiers, police officers, Scouts, or school representatives, who present their institution's flag (and sometimes other flags) on ceremonial occasions.
    • 1895, Henry Cabot Lodge, Theodore Roosevelt, “The Flag-Bearer”, in Hero Tales from American History‎[1]:
      The survivors fell sullenly back behind a fence, within easy range of the Confederate rifle-pits. Just before reaching it the last of the color guard was shot, and the flag fell in the open.
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