What does "phalanx" mean?

Phalanx: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.A Fourierite community; a phalanstery.
  2. 3.(Anat.) One of the digital bones of the hand or foot, beyond the metacarpus or metatarsus; an internode.
  3. 4.Etym: [pl. Phalanges.] (Bot.) A group or bundle of stamens, as in polyadelphous flowers.

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