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To cover or keep in check; as, to mask a body of troops or a fortess by a superior force, while some hostile evolution is being carried out.

ine; military bravery; military conduct; military renown. Nor do I, as an enemy to peace, Troop in the throngs of military men. Shak.

rseback; to furnish with animals for riding; to furnish with horses. "To mount the Trojan troop." Dryden.

An assembling or review of troops, as for parade, verification of numbers, inspection, exercise, or introduction into service. The hurried muster of the soldiers of liberty. Hawthorne. See how in warlike muster they appear, In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings. Milton.

One of a fierce tribe or troop who accompained Achilles, their king, to the Trojan war.

Chaucer. -- General orders (Mil.), orders issued which concern the whole command, or the troops generally, in distinction from special orders. -- Holy orders. (a) (Eccl.) The different grades of the Christian ministry; ordination to the ministry. See def. 10 above. (b) (R. C. Ch.) A sacrament for the purpose of confe…

Of or pertaining to us; belonging to us; as, our country; our rights; our troops; our endeavors. See I. The Lord is our defense. Ps. lxxxix. 18.

A guard or small body of troops at a distance from the main body of an army, to watch for the approach of an enemy; hence, anything for defense placed at a distance from the thing to be defended.

The troops placed at such a station.

dless fright; terror inspired by a trifling cause or a misapprehension of danger; as, the troops were seized with a panic; they fled in a panic.

The ground where a military display is held, or where troops are drilled.

g trenches constructed before a besieged fortress, by the besieging force, as a cover for troops supporting the attacking batteries. They are roughly parallel to the line of outer defenses of the fortress.

The commander of a body of detached light troops engaged in making forays and harassing an enemy.

A part of a larger body of company; a detachment; especially (Mil.), a small body of troops dispatched on special service.

A movement, by a small body of troops beyond the line of outposts, to explore the country and gain intelligence of the enemy's whereabouts.

A troop of fifty soldiers in the Spartan army; -- called also pentecostys. Jowett (Thucyd. ).

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.

A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; -- called also outlying picket.

Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair. Our troops beat an army in plain fight. Felton.

To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision; -- the opposite of deploy. Wilhelm.