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infantry

 - 3 dictionary results

in⋅fan⋅try

  [in-fuhn-tree]
Use infantry in a Sentence
–noun, plural -tries.
1. soldiers or military units that fight on foot, in modern times typically with rifles, machine guns, grenades, mortars, etc., as weapons.
2. a branch of an army composed of such soldiers.
Origin:
1570–80; < It infanteria, equiv. to infante boy, foot-soldier (see infant ) + -ria -ry
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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in·fan·try   (ĭn'fən-trē)   
n.   pl. in·fan·tries

  1. The branch of an army made up of units trained to fight on foot.

  2. Soldiers armed and trained to fight on foot: The general ordered his infantry to attack.

  3. A unit, such as a regiment, of such soldiers: Company B of the 7th Infantry.


[French infanterie, from Old French, from Old Italian infanteria, from infante, youth, foot soldier, from Latin īnfāns, īnfant-, infant; see infant.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

infantry 
1579, from Fr. infantrie, from older It., Sp. infanteria "foot soldiers, force composed of those too inexperienced or low in rank for cavalry," from infante "foot soldier," originally "a youth," from L. infantem (see infant).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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