What does "rereward" mean?

Obsolete spelling of rearward (in the archaic and historical military sense of rearguard and the obsolete sense of haunches, buttocks) .

What is a synonym for "rereward"?

Common synonyms include: back, backward, backwards, a rebours, a reculons, aback.

Rereward

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Obsolete spelling of rearward (in the archaic and historical military sense of rearguard and the obsolete sense of haunches, buttocks) . alt-of, obsolete
"Do not liue Hero, do not ope thine eies: / For did I thinke thou wouldſt not quickly die / Thought I thy ſpirites were ſtronger than thy ſhames / My ſelfe would on the rereward of reproches / Strike at thy life."

Synonyms

All synonyms

back backward backwards a rebours a reculons aback

Example

More examples

"Do not liue Hero, do not ope thine eies: / For did I thinke thou wouldſt not quickly die / Thought I thy ſpirites were ſtronger than thy ſhames / My ſelfe would on the rereward of reproches / Strike at thy life."

Etymology

From rere + -ward.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.