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legion

 - 4 dictionary results

le⋅gion

  [lee-juhn]
–noun
1. a division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 soldiers.
2. a military or semimilitary unit.
3. the Legion.
a. American Legion.
b. foreign legion (def. 2).
4. any large group of armed men.
5. any great number of persons or things; multitude.
–adjective
6. very great in number: The holy man's faithful followers were legion.
Use legion in a Sentence
Origin:
1175–1225; ME legi(o)un (< OF) < L legiōn- (s. of legiō) picked body of soldiers, equiv. to leg(ere) to gather, choose, read + -iōn- -ion

Synonyms:
5. throng, mass, host, sea.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To legion
le·gion   (lē'jən)   
n.  

  1. The major unit of the Roman army consisting of 3,000 to 6,000 infantry troops and 100 to 200 cavalry troops.

  2. A large military unit trained for combat; an army.

  3. A large number; a multitude. See Synonyms at multitude.

  4. often Legion A national organization of former members of the armed forces.

adj.  Constituting a large number; multitudinous: Her admirers were legion. His mistakes were legion.

[Middle English legioun, from Old French legion, from Latin legiō, legiōn-, from legere, to gather; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]
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

legion 
c.1205, from O.Fr. legion "Roman legion" (3,000 to 6,000 men, under Marius usually with attached cavalry), from L. legionem (nom. legio) "body of soldiers," from legere "to choose, gather," also "to read" (see lecture). Generalized sense of "a large number" is due to (inaccurate) translations of allusive phrase in Mark v.9. American Legion, U.S. association of ex-servicemen, founded in 1919; Legionnaires' Disease, caused by Legionella pneumophilia, was named for outbreak July 1976 at American Legion convention in Philadelphia's Bellevue Stratford Hotel. Legion of Honor is Fr. légion d'honneur, an order of distinction founded by Napoleon in 1802. Foreign Legion is Fr. légion étrangère "body of foreign volunteers in a modern army," originally Polish, Belgian, etc. units in Fr. army; they traditionally served in colonies or distant expeditions.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Legion

a regiment of the Roman army, the number of men composing which differed at different times. It originally consisted of three thousand men, but in the time of Christ consisted of six thousand, exclusive of horsemen, who were in number a tenth of the foot-men. The word is used (Matt. 26:53; Mark 5:9) to express simply a great multitude.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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