vanguard (vangard)

[Formerly vantgard; by apheresis from avantgarde, The Earls of Here ford and Norfolk, with the Earl of Lincoln, led his [Edward I.'s] Van - guard at the famous Battle of Fonkirk. Baker , Chronicles, p. 97. Of All The Beasts I see (as vice-Roy of their brutish Band) The Elephant the Vant - gard doth command. Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6. Beau . and Fl ., Love's Cure, i. 1. In the vant - guard he sat bravely mounted. This is the vanguard of the hordes of Attila, the conce ion made in the regular army to legend and fancy. Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 844.