The Collaborative International Dictionary
Outguard \Out"guard`\, n. (Mil.) A guard or small body of troops at a distance from the main body of an army, to watch for the approach of an enemy; hence, anything for defense placed at a distance from the thing to be defended.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context military English) A guard or small body of troops at a distance from the main body of an army, to watch for the approach of an enemy. 2 (context by extension English) Anything for defense placed at a distance from the thing to be defended.
Usage examples of "outguard".
However, a change in the position of the outguard will be exceptional.
Each commander will take precaution to conceal his outguard and will generally strengthen his position by intrenching.
It was with a feeling akin to relaxation that Elric met the outguard who suddenly appeared from the undergrowth to bar their way along the forest trail.
On the east side of the river was Fort Ontario, a barricade of logs built in the shape of a star, housing an outguard of three hundred and seventy men.
And now even the low-lying foothills in which the elder Hunter had tried to see from homesick eyes a resemblance to the outguard of his own Cumberlands were no longer given over to pasturage.
Shortly our scout party rode past the outguard at a jogtrot over the lightly frozen road.
In rear of the line of outguards we have larger groups placed at greater distances.
These, in order from the main body, are the reserve, the line of supports, the line of outguards, and the advance cavalry.
There can be no uniformity in the distance between supports and reserve, nor between outguards and supports, even in the same outpost.
It should detail the troops for the different outguards and, when necessary, define the sector each is to cover.
Connection should be maintained with the adjoining supports and with the outguards furnished by the supports.
Over the ball in a wriggling, writhing heap twenty men were lying, and over these another thirty were striving, while behind them were the outguards, arriving from every part of the field, and, if they could not reach the central scrimmage, wrestling and boxing on their own.
The Dammer Force then posted outguards around the area while the major was attempting to reach the main body over his walkie-talkie radio.