Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
afterguard. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
afterguard, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
afterguard in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
afterguard you have here. The definition of the word
afterguard will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
afterguard, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From after- + guard.
Noun
afterguard (plural afterguards)
- (historical, nautical) The seaman or seamen stationed on the poop or after part of a ship, to attend the after-sails.
1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter IX, in The Master of Ballantrae, Cassell:There were times when the whole crew refused their duty; and we of the afterguard were twice got under arms—being the first time that ever I bore weapons—in the fear of mutiny.
1924, Herman Melville, chapter 12, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:Yet from something in the outline and carriage, Billy took him to be, and correctly, one of the afterguard.
- (sailing) The members of a yacht's crew who attend to the aft sails
2007 July 3, Christopher Clarey, “A Familiar Foe Blocks New Zealand’s Path”, in New York Times:This is his sixth Cup campaign but his first as skipper, a position he inherited after the helmsman Russell Coutts, Butterworth’s longtime alter ego in the afterguard, bolted from Alinghi in 2004.
- A drudge; somebody tasked with menial work.
Derived terms