guard

/ˈgärd/

Middle English garde, from Anglo-French garde, guarde, warde, from garder, guarder, warder, to guard, defend, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German wartēn to watch, take care

noun

  1. one assigned to protect or oversee another: such as

  2. a person or a body of persons on sentinel duty

  3. troops attached to the person of the sovereign

Guards were posted around the camp.

verb

  1. to protect an edge of with an ornamental border

  2. to protect from danger especially by watchful attention : make, secure

  3. to stand at the entrance of as if on guard or as a barrier

defend protect shield guard safeguard mean to keep secure from danger or against attack. defend denotes warding off actual or threatened attack. protect implies the use of something (such as a covering) as a bar to the admission or impact of what may attack or injure.

noun

  1. one of the two crescent-shaped epidermal cells that border and open and close a plant stoma