α. See life n. and guard n.
β. Scottish pre-1700 loveguard, pre-1700 lovguard.
γ. Scottish pre-1700 leaffgaird.
lifeguardn.
/ˈlʌɪfɡɑːd/, U.S. /ˈlaɪfˌɡɑrd/ 1. A bodyguard of soldiers; (in modern use in plural ) (in form Life Guards) the senior cavalry regiment of the British Army, now (with the Blues and Royals) part of the Household Cavalry.The 1st and 2nd Life Guards Regiments were formed in 1788 from the Horse Grenadier Guards and four Troops of the Kings Horse Guards. In 1922 the two regiments merged, and in 1992 joined with the Royal Horse Guards and the 1st Dragoon Guards (the Blues and Royals) to form the Household Cavalry.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warriors collectively > lifeguard or bodyguard > [noun]
watchmena1483
guard-corps1583
lifeguard1632
garde-du-corpsa1684
bodyguard1701
society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > unit of army > named companies, regiments, etc. > [noun] > British
Ulsters1649
Scots Guardsa1675
fusilier1680
guards1682
Scots Dragoons1689
Scots Fusiliers1689
Inniskilling1715
Scots Greys1728
blue1737
Black Watch1739
Oxford blues1766
green linnets1793
Grenadiers1800
slashers1802
the Buffs1806
tartan1817
Gay Gordons1823
cheesemongers1824
Green Jacket1824
The Bays1837
RHA1837
dirty half-hundred1841
die-hard1844
lifeguard1849
cherry-picker1865
lancer-regiment1868
cheeses1877
Territorial Regiment1877
the Sweeps1879
dirty shirts1887
Scottish Rifles1888
shiner1891
Yorkshire1898
imperials1899
Irish guards1902
Hampshires1904
BEF1914
Old Contemptibles1915
contemptibles1917
Tank Corps1917
the Tins1918
skins1928
pioneer corps1939
red devils1943
Blues and Royals1968
U.D.R.1969
1632 tr. Swedish Discipline ii. 61 In the Horse-Regiments, the Colonell shall bee President, and in his absence, the Captaine of Our owne Lifeguards.
1643 Declar. Commons conc. Rebellion in Ireland 63 Most of the Kings life-guard are Irish.
1648 in S. R. Gardiner Hamilton Papers (1880) 161 One of Sir Tho. Fairefax lief-guard.
1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine ii. x. 217 The Cherethites were a kind of lifegard to King David.
1702 London Gaz. No. 3822/3 A stronger Party of French Horse, drawn out of their Life-Guard.
a1753 P. Drake Memoirs (1755) I. xv. 143 One Morgrigg, a Kettle Drum to the Queen's Life-guard.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth x, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 262 A thousand horse mount with him as his daily lifeguard.
1849 A. R. Smith Pottleton Legacy xxiv. 244 He had been passing the evening with an officer—one of the Life-guards Blue.
1884 Regul. & Ord. Army 9 Her Majesty's Regiments of Life Guards, and the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, have the Precedence of all other Corps whatever.
1932 W. Lewis Filibusters in Barbary xv. 220 Before the War, it seems, this strapping German had been a private in the Prussian Life Guards.
1998 Daily Tel. 19 Nov. 30/1 There are always two Gold Sticks—one is the Colonel of the Life Guards and the other the Colonel of the Blues and Royals.
2.
a. Something that guards or protects a person's life; a protecting agent or influence.Many later examples should probably be regarded as extended uses of sense 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > preservation from injury or destruction > [noun] > protection of life > preservation of life
lifeguard1647
1647 J. Cleveland Char. London-diurnall 43 They are the Gospells Life-guard; but for them, The Garrison of new Jerusalem, What would the Brethren do?
1652 Bp. S. Patrick Funeral Serm. in J. Smith Sel. Disc. 531 Good men are the lifeguard of the world.
1683 T. Tryon Way to Health (1697) iii. 423 Modesty, the Life-guard of Chastity.
a1711 T. Ken Hymnotheo xi, in Wks. (1721) III. 317 All the Heav'nly Host your Life-guard are.
1790 R. Pigot Liberty of Press 25 Parliament is the guardian and life-guard of the people, whose particular duty is to see no injury is done them, or offence committed on the side of judges.
1808 M. L. Weems Life G. Washington (ed. 6) xiv. 193 This noble quality was the life-guard of his reason.
1904 Monthly Rev. of Revs. 30 123 (advt.) Oxydonor triumphs through merit. For years it has been the lifeguard of a vast number.
1992 B. Jackson Disorderly Conduct 218 Reformers are, finally, the lifeguard of the system.
b. Originally U.S. An expert swimmer employed to assist bathers who get into difficulty (as at a beach or swimming pool); = lifesaver n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > watching or keeping guard > [noun] > one who watches or keeps guard > watcher against accidents to bathers
lifesaver1887
lifeguard1893
1893 N.-Y. Times 23 June 1/3 An honest life guard restores the gems... Crowds of bathers and onlookers searched the sands... In the evening Life Guard Repp delivered the diamonds.
1896 W. D. Howells Impressions & Experiences 217 I came out almost before the life-guard could get ready to throw me a life-preserver.
1921 Daily Tel. 29 Aug. 9/6 They were sustained by this means until the life guards arrived to take the women ashore.
1933 Boy's Mag. 47 122/1 When a party bathe, one or two of the best swimmers should be posted as life-guards.
1974 R. Hawkey & R. Bingham Wild Card xiii. 119 A guy who's drowning..who, if he's not subdued, will take the lifeguard down with him.
2003 P. Lovesey House Sitter (2004) ii. 17 The lifeguard gave him the look he used for people who drift out to sea in inflatables. ‘By the time they get here, sport, she'll be three feet underwater.’
3. A protective device or fender attached to a locomotive, tramcar, or carriage to prevent danger from exposure to the wheels; (in early use) spec. = cow-catcher n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > locomotive > cow-catcher
cow-catcher1838
guard1838
pilot1846
cow-remover1848
lifeguard1864
obstruction guard1898
1864 Morning Star 9 Sept. Had not the life-guard..protected the wheels of the engine as it did the train would..have been thrown off the line.
1903 J. H. Rider Electric Traction vii. 205 The Board of Trade insists that each car should carry some kind of life guard, with the object of catching the person, before he could get beneath the wheels.
1990 C. B. Holden in Light Transit Systems xiv. 213 The requirement to have a drop-down life-guard tray has been changed from compulsory to optional.
Compounds
C1. General attributive. (In sense 1.)† lifeguard oath n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1662 Mirabilis Annus Secundus 84 The biggest life-guard oaths.
C2. † lifeguard-man n. Obsolete a member of a lifeguard or body of protectors.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > lifeguard or bodyguard > [noun]
lifeguard-mana1657
musketeer1696
bodyguard1703
palace guard1729
a1657 C. Croke Fortune's Uncertainty (1667) 46 He soon perceived that his years had not yet made him capable of such experimented Companions as Life-Guard Men.
1681–2 A. Wood Life 12 Feb. Three men habited like life-guard men.
1706 T. Baker Hampstead Heath i. i. 6 I have..met the pleasantest mixture of odd Creatures,—marry'd Wretches with careful sorrowful Faces, lugging along their big-belly'd Spouses,—Widows, and Life-Guard-Men.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 88 I am resolved to make you my life-guard-man on the highway.
Life Guardsman n. now chiefly historical a soldier belonging to the Life Guards.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier of specific force or unit > [noun]
spahi1562
legionnaire1595
strelitz1603
Croat1623
deli1667
Croatian1700
lancer1712
highlander1725
lambs1744
royals1762
light-bob1778
fly-slicer1785
Life Guardsman1785
royals?1795
Hottentot1796
yeoman1798
pandour1800
Faugh-a-Ballaghsc1811
forty-two man1816
kilty1842
Zouave1848
bumblerc1850
Inniskilliner1853
blue cap1857
turco1860
Zou-Zou1860
mudlark1878
king's man1883
Johnny1888
Piffer1892
evzone1897
horse gunner1897
dink1906
army ranger1910
grognard1912
Jock1914
chocolate soldier1915
Cook's tourist1915
dinkum1916
Anzaca1918
choc1917
ranger1942
Chindit1943
Desert Rat1944
Green Beret1949
1785 Proc. Old Bailey 29 June 946/2 She picked a lifeguards-man's pocket of some silver a few nights ago.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge i. 232 His large boots (resembling..those worn by our Life Guardsmen at the present day).
1877 ‘Mrs. Forrester’ Mignon I. 11 You are big enough for a Life Guardsman!
1918 W. Owen Let. 11 Oct. (1967) 584 Shells so close that they thoroughly put the wind up a Life Guardsman in the trench with me.
2000 Representations No. 69. 12 Walter Scott..inquired..as to whether Haydon knew the fate of one particular Life Guardsman, a former model for the painter.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
lifeguardv.
/ˈlʌɪfɡɑːd/, U.S. /ˈlaɪfˌɡɑrd/ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > preservation from injury or destruction > preserve from injury or destruction [verb (transitive)] > specifically a living being
sparec825
savec1275
spelea1300
sover1488
lifeguard1690
1690 Mor. Ess. & Disc. xii. 209 'Tis not a Man's great Parts..can Life-guard him from Censure, which is a-kin to Death.
2. intransitive. Originally U.S. To work as a lifeguard at a beach, swimming pool, etc.
ΚΠ
1935 Pictorial Rev. July 40/3 I life-guarded every summer I was home from school.
1971 M. Smith Canto for Gypsy (1975) xiv. 124 Jack found him a job lifeguarding at a swimming pool.
1981 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 27 Sept. (Late City Final ed.) v. 1 [It] beats driving a beer truck,..or even lifeguarding at a nude beach in Malibu.
2007 Express & Echo (Exeter) (Nexis) 16 Aug. 21 Before she starts her course,..[she] will spend a year lifeguarding.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1632
v.1690