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myrmidons

[mur-mi-don, -dn]

Origin

noun, plural Myr·mi·dons, Myr·mid·o·nes

[mur-mid-n-eez] .

Classical Mythology. one of the warlike people of ancient Thessaly who accompanied Achilles to the Trojan War.

(lowercase) a person who executes without question or scruple a master's commands.

Origin:
Middle English < Latin Myrmidones (plural) < Greek Myrmidónes

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Myrmidons is always a great word to know.

So is ort. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

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Word Origin & History

myrmidon

c.1400, from L. Myrmidones (pl.), from Gk. Myrmidones, Thessalian tribe led by Achilles to the Trojan War, fabled to have been ants changed into men, from Gk. myrmex "ant." Transferred sense of "faithful follower" is from 1610.

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Matching Quote

"I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black. The legions of these Myrmidons covered all the hills and vales in my wood-yard, and the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying, both red and black. It was the only battle which I have ever witnessed, the only battlefield I ever trod while the battle was raging; internecine war; the red republicans on the one hand, and the black imperialists on the other. On every side they were engaged in deadly combat, yet without any noise that I could hear, and human soldiers never fought so resolutely.... The more you think of it, the less the difference. And certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moment's comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed."

-Henry David Thoreau