The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hypaspist \Hy*pas"pist\, n. [Gr. ?.] (Gr. Antiq.)
A shield-bearer or armor-bearer.
--Mitford.
Wiktionary
n. a lightly-armoured military unit in Ancient Greece, who often served the purpose of distracting the foe from the frontline while holding an aspis and a spear, allowing the more mobile cavalry to strike the enemy from the flanks.
Usage examples of "hypaspist".
By mid-afternoon, Alexander and the hypaspists had fought their way through the city proper to the base of the Byrsa wall, and Charias brought up the rams.
The sambuca trembled, the lip of the bucket bouncing against the wall as the rest of the hypaspists swarmed up the ladder after them.
There was a cheer from further long the wall as the second sambuca reached it, and then the third was in place as well, hypaspists and Foot Companions streaming up the ladders and onto the wall.