rereward

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A form of rearward — The part that comes last or is situated in the rear; conclusion, wind-up.

First used Middle English through the 19th centuryScrabble 12

Meanings

nounrereward (plural rerewards)

plural rerewards

  1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of rearward (in the archaic and historical military sense of rearguard and the obsolete sense of haunches, buttocks) .First known use Middle English through the 19th century

    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.

    1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]
    1 more example

    For, though it were a knowen corruption, and therefore ſhould haue beene auoyded; yet [Robert] Bellarmine in muſtering vp the Fathers authorities, for proofe of the reading, ipſa (the beſt ground of their Mariolatrie) brings in [John] Chryſoſtom in the rereward.

    1611, Thomas Iames [i.e., Thomas James], “The 32. Place Corrupted, in the 17. Homily of Chrys[ostom] vpon Gen[esis] To[me] 1. Pg. 97.”, in A Treatise of the Corrvption of Scripture, Councels, and Fathers, by the Prelats, Pastors, and Pillars of the Church of Rome, for Maintenance of Popery and Irreligion. […], London: Printed by H. L. for Mathew Lownes, →OCLC; republished London: Printed by H. L. for Mathew Lownes; […], 1612, →OCLC, part II (Corruption of the True Fathers), page 85

Origin

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

rereward. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rereward

MLA

“rereward.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rereward. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rereward,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rereward.

Source: rereward on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.