Phalanx
['fælæŋks]
Definition
(noun.) any of the bones of the fingers or toes.
(noun.) a body of troops in close array.
(noun.) any closely ranked crowd of people.
Checker: Lorenzo--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A body of heavy-armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep. There were several different arrangements, the phalanx varying in depth from four to twenty-five or more ranks of men.
(n.) Any body of troops or men formed in close array, or any combination of people distinguished for firmness and solidity of a union.
(n.) A Fourierite community; a phalanstery.
(n.) One of the digital bones of the hand or foot, beyond the metacarpus or metatarsus; an internode.
(n.) A group or bundle of stamens, as in polyadelphous flowers.
Editor: Olaf
Definition
n. a line of battle: a square battalion of heavy-armed infantry drawn up in ranks and files close and deep: any compact body of men: one of the small bones of the fingers and toes:—pl. Phalan′ges or Phal′anxes.
Typist: Owen
Examples
- The Macedonian phalanx was merely a more solid version of the Theban phalanx. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- What I saw was a solid phalanx of armed men between myself and a dais supporting a great bench of carved sorapus wood. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- And also he strengthened his phalanx by giving the rear men longer spears than had been used hitherto, and so deepening its mass. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The cavalry charge and the phalanx smashed this great brittle host as a stone smashes a bottle. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Edited by Henry