Word.ws English Dictionary

parade rest

parade rest noun: a position of rest in which the feet are 12 inches apart and the hands clasped behind the back, or the left hand is behind the back and the right hand holds the rifle with its butt on the ground.

parade rest: a position of rest in which the feet are 12 inches apart and the hands clasped behind the back, or...
Image: U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

parade rest (uncountable)

  1. (US) A position of rest in which the feet are 12 inches apart and the hands clasped behind the back, or the left hand is behind the back and the right hand holds the rifle with its butt on the ground.
    • […] no audible or visible order was given, but the ten thousand soldiers executed the movement of parade rest as a man.1959, Kurt Vonnegut, chapter 4, in The Sirens of Titan, New York: Dial, published 2006, page 98
    • A stern, sawed-off soldier, whom Colonel Eiger had referred to as a master sergeant, whispered something to the honor guard, who stood at parade rest and glanced anxiously at Colonel Eiger […]1989, John Irving, chapter 9, in A Prayer for Owen Meany, New York: William Morrow, page 494

Questions about parade rest

What does parade rest mean?
Parade rest means a position of rest in which the feet are 12 inches apart and the hands clasped behind the back, or the left hand is behind the back and the right hand holds the rifle with its butt on the ground.
What part of speech is parade rest?
Parade rest is a noun.

Words near parade rest in the dictionary

  1. parade lap
  2. parade laps
  3. parade of horribles
  4. parade of horrors
  5. parade passed someone by
  6. parade rest
  7. parade square
  8. parade-goer
  9. parade-goers
  10. paraded
  11. paradeful

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: parade rest (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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