Dictionary

flanker

Noun

flanker (plural flankers)

(rugby) A player who plays in the back row of the scrum.
(American football) A wide receiver who lines up behind the line of scrimmage.
(military) A fortification or soldier projecting so as to defend another work or to command the flank of an assailing body.
- 1675, The Captivity of Mary Rowlandson, from The Portable Native American Indian Reader, New York: Penguin Books, 1977, page 312,
  About two hours...they had been about the house before they prevailed to fire it (which they did with Flax and Hemp, which they brought out of the Barn, and there being no defence about the House, only two Flankers at two opposite corners and one of them not finished) they fired it once and one ventured out and quenched it, but they quickly fired it again, and that took.
- 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 2, p. 27,
  [The planters’ houses] were frequently constructed with flankers and loopholes, for the purpose of firing upon the assailants when they approached so near.
- 1855, Washington Irving, The Life of George Washington, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, Volume 1, Chapter 37, p. 278,
  It was in vain they threw out flankers, and endeavored to dislodge their assailants; each pause gave time for other pursuers to come within reach, and open attacks from different quarters.

Verb

flanker (flankers, present participle flankering; past and past participle flankered)

(obsolete) To defend by lateral fortifications.
(obsolete) To attack sideways.
- 1670, John Evelyn, Sylva or, A Discourse of Forest-Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions, London, Chapter 3, “Of the Oak,” p. 19,
  […] to my observation in our Climates, where those sharp winds do rather flanker than blow fully opposite upon our Plantations, they thrive best […]

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003