spear carrier

• spear-carrier

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spear carrier (plural spear carriers)

1. (acting) A person in a play or movie with a minimal part; an extra.
   • 2004 July 15, Jesse McKinley, “Close Call On Broadway Had Its Roots On the Road”, in New York Times, retrieved 19 March 2014:

     ctors would get annual raises through 2008, when even the lowliest spear carrier will make more than $1,500 a week for being on Broadway.

2. (idiomatic, by extension) One who serves in a subordinate or menial role.
   • 2009 January 8, Linda Greenhouse, “Opinion: The Chief Justice on the Spot”, in New York Times, retrieved 19 March 2014:

     A case sitting quietly in the Supreme Court’s in-basket promises to tell us more than almost any other about John G. Roberts Jr. and his evolution from spear carrier in the Reagan revolution to chief justice of the United States.

   • 2010 February 26, Adrian Hamilton, “Can we halt our slide to the margins?”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 19 March 2014:

     Britain is now widely dismissed—more often in sorrow than in anger—as just an American spear-carrier without any real force of its own.

3. (idiomatic) One who plays a leading or substantial role as a supporter, proponent, etc. representing a group, cause, or point of view.
   • 2006 July 23, James Carney, “The Rise and Fall of Ralph Reed”, in Time, retrieved 19 March 2014:

     Reed was the preternaturally boyish spear carrier for the religious right, the brash Evangelical who transformed the Christian Coalition into a populist power center.

   • 2024 December 13, Paul Monk, “Add this to your must-read list”, in The Australian, retrieved 14 December 2024:

     Why would he do that? Because Hu Yaobang embodied the sense of historical mission in Chinese communism; spent his entire adult life honestly attempting to fulfil that mission; and was the spear carrier, after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, for not only economic, but also political, judicial and cultural reform.

• (actor with a minimal part): bit player, walk-on
• (person who serves in a subordinate role): flunky, minion, underling
• (person who plays a leading or substantial role as a supporter or proponent): point man, standard-bearer, spearchucker