Other forms: outposts
An outpost is a small position held far from the main force. A remote outpost, a frontier outpost, the last outpost.
Its job is to watch and to give warning rather than to hold ground, which is why it is small and why it is expected to fall back. Figuratively it means any small presence far from the centre: an outpost of the company, the last outpost of a way of life. In chess, an outpost is a square in enemy territory that a piece can hold safely because no pawn can attack it.
1nounoutpostA small position held far from the main force.
“A few soldiers guarded the lonely outpost on the edge of the desert.”
2nounpresenceA small presence far from the centre.
“The little shop is the last outpost of civilisation before the desert.”
outpost is a forward position.
Old English
post
Middle English
post
English
post
English, today
outpost
From out- + post. post comes from Middle English post, from Old English post. Middle English post, from Old English post (“pillar, door-post”) and Old French post (“post, upright beam”), both from Latin postis (“door, post, doorpost”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA