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Glite Dictionary
guard duty

guard duty

11 3.3
A period when someone watches and protects a place, often at night
  • noun
  • /ɡɑrd ˈduti/
translation icon : guardia
  • And we weren't going there to walk around patrolling the streets to go on guard duty watching sandbagged bunkers or do routine patrols.

I was doing a lot of guard duty.

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Examples

  • The soldiers took turns performing guard duty to ensure the safety of the base.

  • While on guard duty, he remained alert for any unusual activity in the area.

  • And sure enough, the full guard duty is back on her the next day.

    cari can read

  • The rest of us were outside on guard duty.

    Forbidden Planet (1956)

  • Two months ago, he was killed while on guard duty.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Department Six will take over guard duties at the mint.

    Four (2011)

  • The Oregon Air National Guard member managed to combine guard duty with local school business.

    Blog text (13)

  • I was called for prison guard duty at the post near Mount Fuji, a few weeks before my transfer to entertainment.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • I remember the monsoon rains and hot humid days doing guard duty.

    Blog text (27)

  • From the yard beside the home, the soldiers on guard duty atop the walls of the fort could be seen patrolling their posts.

    Fiction book (1992)

Synonyms

watch
vsguard duty
442 4.2

A time when people stay awake to guard or look for danger

is the individual protection task rather than shifts or teams
guard
vsguard duty
179 1.0

A time when someone watches and protects a place or people

is usually an assigned task or period within military or security service
sentry duty
vsguard duty
  • Jargon
3 5.8

Standing guard at a place to watch for danger, usually in the military

is the general task of protecting places or people in military or security roles
sentry go
vsguard duty
  • Archaic
9.7

A time when a soldier stands guard to watch a place

is the general task of protecting places or people in military or security roles

Antonyms

absence
186 1.3

A time when someone is away from a place

How Demanding

sentry duty
  • Jargon
3 5.8
guard duty
11 3.3
patrol
253 3.2
watch
442 4.2

Surface Forms

guard duty singular
guard duties plural

Morphology

guard + duty

The meaning 'the task or period of acting as a guard' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'guard' (a person who protects) with 'duty' (a responsibility or task). This noun–noun compositional pattern is common and predictable cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Guard duty comes from the simple image of a person set to watch and protect a place: guard is the watcher and duty is the job they are given. So, it means the time or task of watching and protecting a place.