v. [UN-2 4.]
1. trans. To strip of a guard or edging.
1598. Florio, Disfrangiare, to vnfringe,… to vngard.
2. To deprive of a guard or defence; to lay open to attack.
1745. Fielding, Tom Jones, V. v. Some well-chosen presents from the philosopher so softened and unguarded the girl’s heart, that a favourable opportunity became irresistible.
1801. Ireland, Nuptiæ Sacræ, 128. Every man, by degrees, will unguard the virtue of his house, hitherto sacred.
1847. Lytton, Lucretia, 64. She accepted the intimacy held out to her, not to unguard herself, but to lay open her opponent.
b. Whist, etc. To expose (a high card) to the risk of loss by discarding a lower and protecting card.
1862. ‘Cavendish,’ Whist (1864), 95. Trick V.—α unguards his queen of spades; queen singly guarded may make a trick, but the ten of clubs unguarded cannot.
1887. McIntosh, Mod. Whist, 81. It is better to blank an ace than unguard king or queen.
