'Pretorian guards' definitions:

Definition of 'Pretorian guards'

From: GCIDE
  • Pretorian \Pre*to"ri*an\, a. [L. praetorians: cf. F. pr['e]torien.] Of or pertaining to a pretor or magistrate; judicial; exercised by, or belonging to, a pretor; as, pretorian power or authority. [1913 Webster]
  • Pretorian bands or Pretorian guards, or Pretorians (Rom. Hist.), the emperor's bodyguards, instituted by the Emperor Augustus in nine cohorts of 1,000 men each.
  • Pretorian gate (Rom. Antiq.), that one of the four gates in a camp which lay next the enemy. --Brande & C. [1913 Webster]