PATROL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Patrol

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/pətrˈoʊl/ Listen

noun

Patrol n.

(Mil.)

(a)

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.

(b)

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.

(c)

The guard or men who go the rounds for observation; a detachment whose duty it is to patrol.

Any perambulation of a particular line or district to guard it; also, the men thus guarding; as, a customs patrol; a fire patrol. "In France there is an army of patrols to secure her fiscal regulations."

See Boy Scout.

verb

Patrol v. t. To go the rounds of, as a sentry, guard, or policeman; as, to patrol a frontier; to patrol a beat.

Patrol v. i. (past & past part. patrolled; pres. part. patrolling) To go the rounds along a chain of sentinels; to traverse a police district or beat.

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Etymology of 'Patrol'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Patrol" Quotes from Famous Books

... was furious. He had given orders to the outpost to let the enemy pass and merely to follow them at a distance if they marched toward the village, and to join me when they had gone well between the houses. Then they were to appear suddenly, take the patrol between two fires, and not allow a single man to escape; for, posted as we were, the six of us could have hemmed in ...

— Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete • Guy de Maupassant

... travel from the reservation, but I remembered we had passed a small encampment a few miles down the river and another near the mouth of the Dosewallups, where a couple of Indians were fishing from canoes. I knew they would patrol the stream as soon as the alarm was given, and my only chance was to make a wide detour, avoiding my camp where they would first look for me, swim the river, and push through the forest, around that steep, pyramid peak to the next canyon. You see it?—The Duckabush cuts ...

— The Rim of the Desert • Ada Woodruff Anderson

... expecting any minute to go up in the air, but we still kept on joking each other. Neither one of us would let on that we were scared. About 5 o'clock that afternoon I saw about twenty men leave "A" Co. trench and make a dash across No Man's Land. They were a reconnoitring patrol in charge of Lieut. Canning and they were going to find out if the Kenora trench was occupied. Well they did. Fritz stopped shelling us and turned his machine guns and artillery on to this small party. They had to fall back ...

— Over the top with the 25th - Chronicle of events at Vimy Ridge and Courcellette • R. Lewis

... of burglaries occurred far uptown, in the neighborhood of One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Street and Union Avenue. Two officers were sent out each night to patrol the streets in plain clothes. About two o'clock on the morning of May 8 they caught a glimpse of two men loitering about a large corner house, and determined to make them explain their actions. In order to cut off their escape, one officer ...

— Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt • Theodore Roosevelt

... watched that patrol of alien warriors, their attitude suggesting that they hoped to pass unseen, hurry toward the city. Then Raf slipped out of the flyer. His dark clothing in this light ...

— Star Born • Andre Norton

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