phalanx definition | Dictionary.com

Browse Nearby Entries

phalangida

phalanx

Sponsored Links Official Chrysler Site
Build & Price Your Chrysler 300C. Local Dealers, Special Offers, More
www.Chrysler.com

Official Mercury Site
Use Independent Information to Compare Sable.
MercuryVehicles.com/Sable

9 dictionary results for: phalanx

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pha⋅lanx

[fey-langks, fal-angks]

noun, plural pha⋅lanx⋅es or, for 7, pha⋅lan⋅ges [fuh-lan-jeez]

,
verb

–noun

1.	(in ancient Greece) a group of heavily armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep, with shields joined and long spears overlapping.

2.	any body of troops in close array.

3.	a number of individuals, esp. persons united for a common purpose.

4.	a compact or closely massed body of persons, animals, or things.

5.	Military. (initial capital letter) a radar-controlled U.S. Navy 20mm Gatling-type gun deployed on ships as a last line of defense against antiship cruise missiles.

6.	(in Fourierism) a group of about 1800 persons, living together and holding their property in common.

7.	Anatomy, Zoology. any of the bones of the fingers or toes.

–verb (used without object)

8.	Printing. to arrange the distribution of work in a shop as evenly as possible.

Origin:
1545–55; < L < Gk phálanx military formation, bone of finger or toe, wooden roller

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Cite This Source

Sponsored Links Official Chrysler Site
Build & Price Your Chrysler 300C. Local Dealers, Special Offers, More
www.Chrysler.com

Official Mercury Site
Use Independent Information to Compare Sable.
MercuryVehicles.com/Sable

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

phal·an·ster·y (fāl'ən-stěr'ē) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. phal·an·ster·ies

1. A self-sustaining cooperative community of the followers of Fourierism. Also called phalanx.
2. The buildings in such a community.
An association resembling a Fourierist phalanstery.

[French phalanstère : phalange, phalanx (from Latin phalanx, phalang-; see phalanx) + (mona)stère, monastery (from Late Latin monastērium; see monastery).]
phal'an·ste'ri·an (-stîr'ē-ən) adj. & n., phal'an·ste'ri·an·ism n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pha·lanx (fā'lāngks', fāl'āngks') Pronunciation Key
n. pl. pha·lanx·es or pha·lan·ges (fə-lān'jēz, fā-)

A compact or close-knit body of people: "formed a solid phalanx in defense of the Constitution and Protestant religion" (G.M. Trevelyan).
A formation of infantry carrying overlapping shields and long spears, developed by Philip II of Macedon and used by Alexander the Great.
pl. phalanges Anatomy A bone of a finger or toe. Also called phalange.
See phalanstery.

[Latin phalanx, phalang-, from Greek.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
phalanx

1553, from Gk. phalanx (gen. phalangos) "line of battle, battle array," also "finger or toe bone," originally "round piece of wood, trunk, log," of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE base *bhelg- "plank, beam" (cf. O.E. balca "balk;" see balk). In anatomy, originally the whole row of finger joints, which fit together like infantry in close order. Fig. sense of "number of persons banded together in a common cause" is attested from 1600 (cf. Sp. Falangist, member of a fascist organization founded in 1933).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

phalanx
noun
1.	any of the bones of the fingers or toes
2.	any closely ranked crowd of people
3.	a body of troops in close array

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Cite This Source

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

phalanx (fā'lāngks') Pronunciation Key
Plural phalanges (fə-lān'jēz)

Any of the small bones of the fingers or toes in humans or the digits of many other vertebrates.

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

phalanx pha·lanx (fā'lāngks', fāl'āngks')
n. pl. pha·lanx·es or pha·lan·ges (fə-lān'jēz, fā-)
Any of the long bones of the fingers or toes, numbering 14 for each hand or foot: two for the thumb or big toe, and three each for the other four digits.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: pha·lanx
Pronunciation: 'fA-"la[ng](k)s, Brit usu 'fal-"a[ng](k)s
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural pha·lan·ges /f&-'lan-(")jEz, fA-, 'fA-", Brit usu fal-'an-/
: any of the digital bones of the hand or foot distal to the metacarpus or metatarsusof a vertebrate that in humans are three to each finger and toe with the exception of the thumb and big toe which have only two each

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Phalanx

Pha"lanx\, n.; pl. Phalanxes, L. Phalanges. [L., from Gr. ?.]

1. (Gr. Antiq.) A body of heavy-armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep. There were several different arrangements, the phalanx varying in depth from four to twenty-five or more ranks of men. "In cubic phalanx firm advanced." --Milton.

The Grecian phalanx, moveless as a tower. --Pope.

2. Any body of troops or men formed in close array, or any combination of people distinguished for firmness and solidity of a union.

At present they formed a united phalanx. --Macaulay.

The sheep recumbent, and the sheep that grazed, All huddling into phalanx, stood and gazed. --Cowper.

3. A Fourierite community; a phalanstery.

4. (Anat.) One of the digital bones of the hand or foot, beyond the metacarpus or metatarsus; an internode.

5. [pl. Phalanges.] (Bot.) A group or bundle of stamens, as in polyadelphous flowers.

Sponsored Links Official Chrysler Site
Build & Price Your Chrysler 300C. Local Dealers, Special Offers, More
www.Chrysler.com

Official Mercury Site
Use Independent Information to Compare Sable.
MercuryVehicles.com/Sable

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Link to Us · Report Ad · Contact Us