From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe old guardthe old guarda group of people in an organization who want to do things in the way they were done in the past the Communist old guard → guard
Examples from the Corpus
the old guard• the old guard of the Communist Party• Would she like to abandon the old guard, she was asked?• The trouble is that his men have done just as badly as the old guard.• But the old guard in the leadership sends in the tanks and introduces a new phase of vicious repression.• Meanwhile, like the Old Guard, the conventional wisdom dies but does not surrender.• Soon many of the old guard felt his hand upon them.• By agreeing to run, Daley gave up his Senate seat and angered some of the old guard on the South Side.• But now what had happened to the old guard was happening to him, too.• To the old guard there is no such place.the old guardthe old guardOLD-FASHIONEDa group of people within an organization or club who do not like changes or new ideas He’ll never manage to persuade the old guard. → oldExamples from the Corpus
the old guard• The trouble is that his men have done just as badly as the old guard.• Soon many of the old guard felt his hand upon them.• But the old guard in the leadership sends in the tanks and introduces a new phase of vicious repression.• By agreeing to run, Daley gave up his Senate seat and angered some of the old guard on the South Side.• Would she like to abandon the old guard, she was asked?• Meanwhile, like the Old Guard, the conventional wisdom dies but does not surrender.• To the old guard there is no such place.• But now what had happened to the old guard was happening to him, too. 