Dictionary.com Word Of The Day
Sep. 08, 2016
phalanx\FEY-langks, FAL-angks\noun
1. a number of individuals, especially persons united for a common
purpose.
2. (in ancient Greece) a group of heavily armed infantry formed in
ranks and files close and deep, with shields joined and long spears
overlapping.
QuotesMr. Mildmay, Mr. Gresham, and Mr. Monk were the best friends in
the world, swearing by each other in their own house, and supported in
the other by as gallant a phalanx of Whig peers as ever were got
together to fight against the instincts of their own order in
compliance with the instincts of those below them.
-- Anthony Trollope, Phineas Finn, 1869
Origin of phalanxPhalanx can be traced to the Greek word phálanx
meaning "military formation; bone of finger or toe; wooden roller." It
entered English in the mid-1500s.More From Dictionary.comSubmit a
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