Meaning of guard In English

• 0 a person or group of people whose job is to protect a person, place, or thing from danger or attack, or to prevent a person such as a criminal from escaping:

  • prison guards

  • security guards

  • There are guards posted (= standing and watching) at every entrance.

  • Armed guards are posted around the site.

  • The frontier is patrolled by border guards.

  • The ex-president was under armed guard in the palace.

  • Two of the soldiers kept guard over the captured guns.

  • Armed police stand guard outside the house.

• 1 a railway official who travels on and is responsible for a train

• 2 a device that protects a dangerous part of something or that protects something from getting damaged:

  • a fire guard

  • a trigger guard

  • The helmet has a face guard attached.

• 3 to protect someone or something from being attacked or stolen:

  • Soldiers guard the main doors of the embassy.

  • Five prison officers guarded the prisoners.

• 4 to keep information secret:

  • Journalists jealously (= carefully) guard their sources of information.

• 5 informal for the National Guard

• 6 a person or group of people whose job it is to protect a person, place, or thing from danger or attack, or to prevent a person such as a criminal from escaping:

  • prison guards

  • Armed guards were posted at every exit.

• 7 a piece of equipment that protects the user of a machine from being injured by a sharp or dangerous part on the machine:

  • Make sure that the safety guard is in position before using the cutting machine.

• 8 a person or group of people whose job is to protect a person, place or thing, or to prevent a person, such as a criminal, from escaping:

  • a night guard at a bank

  • border/prison/security guards

• 9 to be careful to avoid being tricked or getting into a dangerous situation:

  • Stores must always be on their guard against credit card fraud.

• 10 to protect something from being known, found, harmed, or taken:

  • The California-based company is aggressively guarding its secret technology.

  • guard (sth) against sth The firewall guards the computer against viruses or other harmful programs.