escort
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɛs.kɔɹt/
ipa: /ˈɛs.kɔːt/
Forms: form: escorts
Etymology: Borrowed from French escorte, itself borrowed from Italian scorta.
Senses: examples: text: The soldier who was pulling at the other end was clumsily unhorsed, and I myself was all but thrown by the unexpected jerk. This ludicrous incident at first provoked mirth among my escort, a mirth which their superstitious minds immediately turned into an ill omen.
ref: 1898, Arnold Henry Savage Landor, chapter LXXXIII, in In the Forbidden Land:
text: Whole squadrons of cavalry escort had sometimes to be sent thundering against a powerful infantry outpost in order that the brief time between the charge and the inevitable retreat might be utilized in sounding a ford or determining the point of intersection of two roads.
ref: 1883, Ambrose Bierce, George Thurston:
text: There were not many passengers, and the journey was uneventful until the frontier was reached at Padang Besar, although an armed escort of Malay police accompanied the train from Alor Star.
ref: 1955 April, “Notes and News: A Journey through Thailand”, in Railway Magazine, page 286:
glosses: A group of people or vehicles, generally armed, who go with a person or people of importance to safeguard them on a journey or mission.
examples: text: The waves being so high when we and the escorts, which stayed about one quarter mile to each side and ahead of us, were in a trough at the same time and we were unable to see one another.
ref: 1980, Ernest L. Secrest, chapter 9, in My 1102 Days of W.W. II:
glosses: An accompanying person in such a group.
glosses: A guard who travels with a dangerous person, such as a criminal, for the protection of others.
glosses: A group of people attending as a mark of respect or honor.
examples: text: "He'd come in for something to eat—the red-bearded one. We had quite a chat. I told him we were traveling like Stevenson—with a donkey; but that one of the ladies had an abscess on a tooth and was going home. He said it was no place for women and offered himself as an escort."
ref: 1921, Mary Roberts Rinehart, chapter 5, in More Tish:
glosses: An accompanying person in a social gathering, etc.
examples: text: "I went home with Hester Paine, last evening, from writing school. Just as she had accepted my escort, Halbert came up, and in a condescending way, informed her that he would see her home."
ref: 1874, Horatio Alger, chapter 2, in Brave and Bold:
glosses: Protection, care, or safeguard on a journey or excursion.
examples: text: Of the 68 women, 26 reported that they had worked on the streets and as an escort over the course of their career as a prostitute, 18 exclusively as a street prostitute, and 8 as an escort only (i.e., working for an escort service).
ref: 2014, Jeffrey T. Parsons, Contemporary Research on Sex Work, page 87:
text: Every escort has at least one or two regular clients; they are our bread and butter.
ref: 2017, Samantha X, Back on Top: Confessions of a High-Class Escort, Hachette, →ISBN:
glosses: A sex worker who does not operate in a brothel, but with whom clients make appointments; a call girl or male equivalent; a pimp.
Derived terms: destroyer escort
escort agency
escort carrier
escortcel
escortless
escort service
police escort