sentry:
(plural: ‘sentries‘; for the right pronunciation of this word, please click here)
sentries on duty in the past
a guard, especially a soldier, keeping a watch at an entrance, passage or other place to prevent people without permission or enemies from getting into the place;
any person whose duty is to keep a watch at a place in order to protect something or someone from attack;
a sentinel (previous entry),
sentries at Buckingham Palace, London
A sentry on duty is to be alert all the time and has the authority to stop anybody, other than his immediate superiors, and ask for the identity of any intruder.
In the past and in times of war in the present, sentries who fell asleep while on sentry duty are shot to death by firing squad; however, the story of President Abraham Lincoln of the USA pardoning the sentry, William Scott, who fell asleep because he was doing a double duty that night, depicted the President’s kind heart.
The sentries that guard the London Bridge and Buckingham Palace, known as Queen’s Guard, are famous for their discipline while on duty, for they keep standing rock solid without even twitching their noses until their relievers relieve them, which is called change of guard and is hailed as a spectacular act.
