Definition of "flanker" in English

noun

1. (rugby) A player who plays in the back row of the scrum.

2. (American football) A wide receiver who lines up behind the line of scrimmage.

3. (military) A fortification or soldier projecting so as to defend another work or to command the flank of an assailing body.

   • 1675, The Captivity of Mary Rowlandson, from The Portable Native American Indian Reader, New York: Penguin Books, 1977, page 312, About two hours...they had been about the house before they prevailed to fire it (which they did with Flax and Hemp, which they brought out of the Barn, and there being no defence about the House, only two Flankers at two opposite corners and one of them not finished) they fired it once and one ventured out and quenched it, but they quickly fired it again, and that took.

4. (archaeology) One of a pair of large upright monoliths erected on either end of the recumbent, in recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and the counties of Cork and Kerry in south-west of Ireland.

5. (business, marketing) A usually lower-end brand or product introduced in order to target competitors and protect a company's main market share.

verb

1. (obsolete) To defend by lateral fortifications.

2. (obsolete) To attack sideways.

   • 1670, John Evelyn, Sylva or, A Discourse of Forest-Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions, London, Chapter 3, “Of the Oak,” p. 19, […] to my observation in our Climates, where those sharp winds do rather flanker than blow fully opposite upon our Plantations, they thrive best […]