Platoon
[plə'tuːn] or [plə'tun]
Definition
(noun.) a military unit that is a subdivision of a company; usually has a headquarters and two or more squads; usually commanded by a lieutenant.
(noun.) a team of policemen working under the military platoon system.
(noun.) a group of persons who are engaged in a common activity; 'platoons of tourists poured out of the busses'; 'the defensive platoon of the football team'.
Typist: Melville--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Formerly, a body of men who fired together; also, a small square body of soldiers to strengthen the angles of a hollow square.
(n.) Now, in the United States service, half of a company.
Inputed by Hodge
Definition
n. a number of recruits assembled for exercise—originally a small body of soldiers in a hollow square to strengthen the angles of a longer formation: a subdivision of a company.
Inputed by Liza
Examples
- When she had gone through her rigid preliminaries, amounting to a sort of genteel platoon-exercise, she withdrew. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Oh, boy, I'd like to have you two in my platoon. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- There were stragglers going by long after the regiment had passed--men who could not keep up with their platoons. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
Typist: Portia