flanker
/ˈflaŋkə
/noun
1A person or thing situated on the flank of something, in particular:The team skipper led by example at full-back, while her flankers kept their respective markers off the scoreboard....
- Guo moved forward into the clearing, her flankers on either side.
- Your flankers will keep the foe from dodging your blows.
1.1 Rugby another term for wing forward.There will be tremendous interest in seeing how our two flying flankers go....
- The Dublin-based flanker received 21 stitches in a facial wound in an accidental collision with a Shannon player.
- Since then, honours have been piled upon the hot flanker's trammelled head.
1.2 American Football An offensive back who is positioned to the outside of an end.Knapp wants to make Price the flanker in his offense....
- At Georgia, he had started at flanker, tailback, quarterback, and split end, and also had handled punt and kickoff return duties.
- He is also athletic enough to have played both ways at college football's highest level, starting at flanker on a national championship team.
1.3 Military A fortification guarding or menacing the side of a force or position.The 23rd Light Dragoons, raised in 1781, armed its flankers with small, short blunderbusses with elliptical muzzles referred to as musketoons....
- It has four flankers which have a covered communication with each other, and are mounted with good guns.
2British informal, dated A trick or swindle: he’s certainly pulled a flanker on the army
