phalanx

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The Word of the Day for August 13 is:

phalanx   \FAY-lanks\   noun
     1 : a body of heavily armed infantry in ancient Greece formed in close 
deep ranks and files; broadly : a body of troops in close array 
     2 plural phalanges : one of the digital bones of the hand or foot of a 
vertebrate 
     3 *a : a massed arrangement of persons, animals, or things b: an organized 
body of persons 

Example sentence:
     The police commissioner had to maneuver through a phalanx of reporters 
before he could make his way into the building.

Did you know?
     The original sense of "phalanx" refers to a military formation that was 
used in ancient warfare and consisted of a tight block of soldiers standing 
shoulder to shoulder, several rows deep, often with shields joined. The word 
"phalanx" comes from the Greeks, though they were not the only ones who used 
this formation. The Greek term literally means "log" and was used for both this 
line of battle and for a bone in a finger or toe. The word and its senses 
passed into Latin and then were adopted into English in the 16th century. These 
days, a "phalanx" can be any arranged mass, whether of persons, animals, or 
things, or a body of people organized in a particular effort.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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