rereward

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English

Etymology

From rere +‎ -ward.

Noun

rereward (plural rerewards)

  1. Obsolete spelling of rearward (in the archaic and historical military sense of rearguard and the obsolete sense of haunches, buttocks).
    • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. , quarto edition, London: V S for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
      Do not liue Hero, do not ope thine eies: / For did I thinke thou wouldſt not quickly die / Thought I thy ſpirites were ſtronger than thy ſhames / My ſelfe would on the rereward of reproches / Strike at thy life.
    • 1611, Thomas Iames [i.e., Thomas James], “The 32. Place Corrupted, in the 17. Homily of Chrys vpon Gen To 1. Pg. 97.”, in A Treatise of the Corrvption of Scripture, Councels, and Fathers, by the Prelats, Pastors, and Pillars of the Church of Rome, for Maintenance of Popery and Irreligion. , London: Printed by H. L. for Mathew Lownes, →OCLC; republished London: Printed by H. L. for Mathew Lownes;  , 1612, →OCLC, part II (Corruption of the True Fathers), page 85:
      For, though it were a knowen corruption, and therefore ſhould haue beene auoyded; yet [Robert] Bellarmine in muſtering vp the Fathers authorities, for proofe of the reading, ipſa (the beſt ground of their Mariolatrie) brings in [John] Chryſoſtom in the rereward.

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman rerewarde; equivalent to rere +‎ ward.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈrɛːr(ə)ward(ə)/

Noun

rereward

  1. The back side of an army; the forces at the rear.
  2. (rare) A strike from behind.

Descendants

  • English: rearward (obsolete in this sense)

References