flanker

flank +‎ -er

flanker (plural flankers)

1. (rugby) A player who plays in the back row of the scrum.
2. (American football) A wide receiver who lines up behind the line of scrimmage.
3. (military) A fortification or soldier projecting so as to defend another work or to command the flank of an assailing body.
   • 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.

• blindside flanker
• openside flanker

flanker (third-person singular simple present flankers, present participle flankering, simple past and past participle flankered)

1. (obsolete) To defend by lateral fortifications.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir T. Herbert to this entry?)

2. (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 […]

• Falkner, Frankel

flanker c

1. plural indefinite of flanke

flanker or flankér

1. imperative of flankere

flanker m (plural flankers)

1. (rugby) flanker

flanker m

1. indefinite plural of flanke

flanker

1. imperative of flankere