army - Definition of army at Define.com Dictionary and Thesaurus (define army)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Army \Ar"my\, noun [F. arm['e]e, fr. L. armata, fem. of armatus, p. p. of armare to arm. Cf. {Armada}.]

1. A collection or body of men armed for war, esp. one organized in companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, and divisions, under proper officers.

2. A body of persons organized for the advancement of a cause; as, the Blue Ribbon Army.

3. A great number; a vast multitude; a host.

An army of good words. --Shak.

{Standing army}, a permanent army of professional soldiers, as distinguished from militia or volunteers.

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

army

noun

1: a permanent organization of the military land forces of a nation or state [syn: {regular army}, {ground forces}]

2: a large number of people united for some specific purpose

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

127 Moby Thesaurus words for "army": KP, a mass of, a world of, armed force, armed service, army group, array, battalion, battery, battle group, bevy, brigade, bunch, cadre, career soldiers, cloud, cluster, clutter, cohort, cohue, colony, column, combat command, combat team, company, corps, covey, crowd, crush, deluge, detachment, detail, division, drift, drive, drove, field army, field train, fighting machine, file, flight, flock, flocks, flood, flying column, forces, galaxy, gam, gang, garrison, ground forces, ground troops, hail, heap, herd, hive, horde, host, jam, kennel, kitchen police, large amount, legion, legions, litter, lots, maniple, many, mass, masses of, military establishment, mob, muchness, multitude, nest, numbers, occupation force, organization, outfit, pack, panoply, paratroops, phalanx, platoon, plurality, pod, posse, press, pride, quantities, quite a few, rabble, rank, rank and file, ranks, regiment, regular army, regulars, rout, ruck, school, scores, section, shoal, ski troops, skulk, sloth, soldiery, spate, squad, squadron, standing army, storm troops, swarm, tactical unit, task force, the line, the military, throng, tidy sum, train, trip, troop, troops, unit, wing, worlds of

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

Army The Israelites marched out of Egypt in military order (Ex. 13:18, "harnessed;" marg., "five in a rank"). Each tribe formed a battalion, with its own banner and leader (Num. 2:2; 10:14). In war the army was divided into thousands and hundreds under their several captains (Num. 31:14), and also into families (Num. 2:34; 2 Chr. 25:5; 26:12). From the time of their entering the land of Canaan to the time of the kings, the Israelites made little progress in military affairs, although often engaged in warfare. The kings introduced the custom of maintaining a bodyguard (the Gibborim; i.e., "heroes"), and thus the nucleus of a standing army was formed. Saul had an army of 3,000 select warriors (1 Sam. 13:2; 14:52; 24:2). David also had a band of soldiers around him (1 Sam. 23:13; 25:13). To this band he afterwards added the Cherethites and the Pelethites (2 Sam. 15:18; 20:7). At first the army consisted only of infantry (1 Sam. 4:10; 15:4), as the use of horses was prohibited (Deut. 17:16); but chariots and horses were afterwards added (2 Sam. 8:4; 1 Kings 10:26, 28, 29; 1 Kings 9:19). In 1 Kings 9:22 there is given a list of the various gradations of rank held by those who composed the army. The equipment and maintenance of the army were at the public expense (2 Sam. 17:28, 29; 1 Kings 4:27; 10:16, 17; Judg. 20:10). At the Exodus the number of males above twenty years capable of bearing arms was 600,000 (Ex. 12:37). In David's time it mounted to the number of 1,300,000 (2 Sam. 24:9).