escortn.
/ˈɛskɔːt/, U.S. /ˈɛsˌkɔrt/ 1.
a. Military. A body of armed men accompanying a traveller or travellers (whether for protection or surveillance, or as a mark of honour), or serving as a guard or convoy for baggage, provisions, treasure, etc.
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society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > group with special function or duty > [noun] > for guard duty > escort
coveyc1325
convoy1553
convey1579
escort1579
safeguard1633
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin xviii. 1077 The bandes..had ouerthrowen the eskert [1599 eskart] or garde [It. scorta] of vittells.
1708 London Gaz. No. 4458/2 The Horses and Waggons..began their March with an Escorte of 2000 Foot and 800 Horse.
1802 C. James New Mil. Dict. Escort of Deserters consists..of a corporal and three rank and file.
1810 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1838) VI. 470 And Colonel Trant with his division attacked the escort of the military chest.
1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. vi. 552 Not with an army but with a mere escort of strangers.
b. Nautical. A warship, or group of warships, accompanying merchant ships or other vessels for protection. Also used of aircraft in a similar role. Frequently attributive, as escort carrier, escort destroyer, escort vessel; so escort duty, escort work. Also with defining word, as convoy escort, surface escort.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun] > convoy escort
wafter1484
convoyer1648
mother ship1890
escort1914
1914 Sphere 31 Oct. 121/2 Numerous letters have now been received from men in the torpedo boat destroyers. One writes: ‘We are doing patrolling duties...’ Another says: ‘After a period as escorts for transports we are now having a change.’
1918 Sphere 9 Mar. 223 (caption) Some British battleships at sea with their escort of protecting destroyers.
1918 Sphere 30 Mar. 273 (caption) A convoy escort returning to port.
1918 Sphere 29 June 234/2 Two British destroyers..which formed the anti-submarine escort, at once engaged the enemy vessels.
1919 L. R. Freeman Sea-hounds v. 129 As I heard one of the men put it, it was the ‘bruisiest’ bit of escort-work they had ever been..called upon to face.
1923 W. S. Churchill World Crisis I. xxi. 496 The First Cruiser Squadron..had been..employed on escort duties at sea.
1938 Jane's Fighting Ships p. v The heavily armed escort vessel Egret obviously designed to protect convoys against air attack.
1944 Jane's All World's Aircraft 1943–4 25a/2 The new class of Escort Carriers..adapted for flying operations by installing a ‘flat top’ deck.
1948 Jane's Fighting Ships 1947–8 222 New Construction Programme, 1948–50. Six escort destroyers to be laid down.
1954 S. W. Roskill War at Sea I. xvii. 358 The tactical employment of air escorts was now being improved steadily.
1954 S. W. Roskill War at Sea I. xvii. 358 Aircraft employed as convoy escorts or on anti~submarine patrols.
1954 S. W. Roskill War at Sea I. xvii. 358 Surface escorts..were being formed into Escort Groups in the Western Approaches Command.
1954 S. W. Roskill War at Sea I. xxi. 464 It was now possible to provide convoys with an average strength of five anti-submarine escorts.
c. Aeronautics. A fighter aircraft used to accompany bombers; usually attributive, as escort fighter.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [noun] > used in warfare > aircraft escorting bombers
escort1946
1946 A. Lee German Air Force i. 11 Messerschmitt 110..As a long-range day escort fighter it was to fail.
1965 New Statesman 30 Apr. 690/3 The rapid conversion of the Mustang into a long-range escort.
2. transferred.
a. A number of persons, or often a single person, accompanying any one on a journey for the purpose of protection or guidance, or for courtesy's sake.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > traveller > [noun] > companion
companionc1325
samenferec1400
wayferea1450
lodes-mate1575
fellow traveller1581
way-mate1628
synodite1655
escort1745
compagnon de voyage1768
1745 Fortunate Orphan 33 Five Women, who had no other Escorte than a Recollet, this Jeweller, and a Youth of sixteen.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison V. xi. 61 I could not be so welcome to you as your escorte, as..I should be to Miss Byron and her friends, as her guest.
1847 G. P. R. James John Marston Hall xii The encounter with the courier and his escort had taken place.
1859 F. C. L. Wraxall tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin Mem. II. v. 134 The ladies in waiting and the lady patronesses formed the royal escort.
b. A person (usually a man) accompanying a woman to a dance, party, etc.
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the mind > emotion > love > courtship or wooing > [noun] > escort
esquire1824
escort1936
society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [noun] > attendance in the capacity of an escort > escort a lady
rock guard1804
escort1936
1936 Literary Digest 12 Dec. 29/1 The escort merely announces himself downstairs at the client's address and presently she appears.
1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xvii. 267 Miss O'Shea was drinking ginger-beer and her escort had a shandy.
1955 T. Sterling Evil of Day viii. 95 The forget-me-not corsage..she had bought for herself, explaining to her escort that gardenias gave her a headache.
1955 J. P. Donleavy Ginger Man xii. 123 I've just walked into a bar, and I was frightened to death that the barman would tell me that women without escorts couldn't come in.
3. abstract. Attendance in the capacity of an escort.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [noun] > attendance in the capacity of an escort
escorting1761
escortment1775
escort1833
1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lugger ii. v. 97 To make him desire Cooper's escort.
1858 J. Martineau Stud. Christianity 221 The elder deities were compelled to..attend in escort to the Eastern idol.
Draft additions December 2006
A person hired (esp. through an agency) to provide companionship; (in later use, also spec.) a sex worker who arranges to meet clients by appointment rather than working in a brothel or on the street. Frequently attributive, as escort agency, escort girl, escort service, etc.
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1874 Bucks County (Pa.) Gaz. 14 May 2/3 She must go to the Escort Bureau and pay the price... A first-class dancing man brings five dollars... A theatre escort brings only two dollars.
1924 Los Angeles Times 9 Jan. iii. 1/4 When a damsel is seized with a sudden desire to attend a cabaret or hotel dinner-dance, all she will have to do is call the nearest escort agency.
1941 Los Angeles Times 27 May ii. 20/6 Another member of the [vice] squad, also had an escort girl sent to the hotel... She..took off all her clothes and got into bed.
1953 Chicago Tribune 14 Sept. i. 2/5 Some of the ring's female ‘escorts’ were young women who held jobs as stenografers and typists during day hours, and turned to prostitution at night.
1997 E. White Farewell Symphony (1998) vi. 257 I was so desperate..that I ordered up a hustler. In a gay paper I'd seen an ad for an escort agency.
2004 Federal Reporter 3rd Ser. 378 1286 A web-based escort service which allowed customers to select a particular prostitute from pictures posted on a website.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
escortv.
/ɛˈskɔːt/ transitive. To act as escort to.
a. Military of armed men; Nautical of a convoy.
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society > armed hostility > defence > defend [verb (transitive)] > escort
convoy1488
escort1708
1708 London Gaz. No. 4478/3 Yesterday the Troops that escorted our Foragers, met with several of the Enemy's Parties.
1761–2 D. Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. lx. 539 The herring busses were escorted by twelve men of war.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 636 He was escorted by a body~guard under the command of Sarsfield.
b. In wider sense: To accompany for the purpose of protecting or conducting, or of showing civility.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > show (the way) [verb (transitive)] > accompany as a guide > accompany or attend as companion
to go with ——c1330
convoyc1405
to wait on or upon ——1450
squire1530
to wait of ——?1551
escort1746
1746 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Satires i. ix. 143 In private haunt, in public meet, Salute, escort him through the Street.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison II. iv. 50 To escorte and guide me through this wood.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth iii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 195 Catharine, escorted by old Henshaw and a groom of the Knight of Kinfauns.
1888 M. E. Braddon Fatal Three I. ii. 13 He had escorted her to the first of her parties.
c. To ‘keep company’ or ‘walk out’ with (a woman). U.S.
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1890 Harper's Mag. Oct. 716/2 A whisper also went the rounds that Dick Jones was escorting Miss Turner.
Derivatives
eˈscorting adj. that escorts.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [adjective] > that escorts
escorting1870
1870 Pall Mall Gaz. 7 Nov. 7 The official list of the escorting officers.
eˈscortment n. the action of escorting.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [noun] > attendance in the capacity of an escort
escorting1761
escortment1775
escort1833
1775 J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 303 One of the warriors was sent to accompany me..by way of escortment.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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