battalion - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle French battaillon (modern French bataillon).[1]

battalion (plural battalions)

  1. (military) An army unit having two or more companies, etc. and a headquarters. Traditionally forming part of a regiment.
  2. (US, military) an army unit having two or more companies, etc. and a headquarters; forming part of a brigade.
  3. Any large body of troops.
  4. (by extension) A great number of things.

army unit

any large body of troops

battalion (third-person singular simple present battalions, present participle battalioning, simple past and past participle battalioned)

  1. To form into battalions.

  2. ^ “battalion, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.