color guard
3
5.0
- noun
- /ˈkʌlər ɡɑrd/
- US
:
guardia de colores
- A high school student named Sierra sang the National Anthem, and the Merritt Island High School color guard and Titusville High School marching band led Atlantis down the road to stop behind the ceremony stage.
- color guard and honor
- military color guard
- color guard marches
Examples
-
A color guard of the Long Horn Council of the Boy Scouts of America (all of them Anglos) was called forward, one carrying the American flag and the other the Indian.
Academic text (2005) -
Color guard, present arms!
-
The Color Guard at the Veterans Day ceremony
Blog text (31) -
After the color guard, the scout asked everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Academic text (2005) -
During the fall, while I was in color guard, we had performances during football games, parades, and marching band competitions.
Blog text (24) -
Color guard, order arms!
-
It touches down as the Marine Corps color guard snaps to attention.
Fiction book (1993) -
While the VFW color guard practiced turning corners in the school driveway, Chief Durkin's eyes narrowed and swept around the parking lot.
Fiction book (1991) -
Patsy had ordered up a parade with flags, bugles, drums, and an Albany Academy color guard marching the twenty-seven-year-old mayor into a gilt-edged political future.
Fiction book (2002) -
During the ceremony, the color guard marched proudly behind the national flag.
Synonyms
9
4.8
A group of soldiers who stand or march at ceremonies to show respect
1
4.1
A group of people who stand in line to welcome an important person or honor a dead person
How Ceremonial
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a group serving as a ceremonial escort for the flag' is directly derivable from combining 'colors' (flags) with 'guard' (people who protect or escort). This 'guard of the X/guard for the X' compositional pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Color guard comes from old soldiers who protected the colors, the unit's flags, in battle. Because the flag showed the unit, guarding it was important, so today color guard means a group who carry and guard the flag at ceremonies.