patrol
- Noun. (military) A going of the rounds along the chain of sentinels and between the posts, by a guard, usually consisting of three or four men, to insure greater security from attacks on the outposts.
- Noun. (military) A movement, by a small body of troops beyond the line of outposts, to explore the country and gain intelligence of the enemy's whereabouts.
- Noun. (military) The guard or men who go the rounds for observation; a detachment whose duty it is to patrol.
- Noun. Any perambulation of a particular line or district to guard it; also, the men thus guarding; as, a customs patrol; a fire patrol.
- Verb. (intransitive) To go the rounds along a chain of sentinels; to traverse a police district or beat.
- Verb. (transitive) To go the rounds of, as a sentry, guard, or policeman; as, to patrol a frontier; to patrol a beat.
This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.
This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.