Skirmisher
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An infantry soldier used for skirmishing.
"A skirmisher had fired three shots at the Captain -- the third striking his horse. He dismounted to see how much the animal was injured, and had just placed one foot in the stirrup to remount when the same man fired again. The ball this time struck the Captain in the back -- he raised one hand and fell to the ground dead."
- 2 someone who skirmishes (e.g., as a member of a scouting party) wordnet
Example
More examples"A skirmisher had fired three shots at the Captain -- the third striking his horse. He dismounted to see how much the animal was injured, and had just placed one foot in the stirrup to remount when the same man fired again. The ball this time struck the Captain in the back -- he raised one hand and fell to the ground dead."
Etymology
From skirmish + -er.
More for "skirmisher"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.