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of or pertaining to Sparta, especially to ancient Sparta; hence, hardy; undaunted; as, Spartan souls; Spartan bravey. -- n.

A band of sworn soldiers; a division of the Spartan army ranging from twenty-five to thirty-six men, bound together by oath.

ribe, people, country, and the like. What becomes . . . of the Herakleid genealogy of the Spartan kings, when it is admitted that eponymous persons are to be canceled as fictions Grote.

A governor or prefect appointed by the Spartans in the cities subjugated by them.

A slave in ancient Sparta; a Spartan serf; hence, a slave or serf. Those unfortunates, the Helots of mankind, more or less numerous in every community. I. Taylor.

A Spartan. [Written also Lacedemonian.]

Of or pertaining to Laconia, a division of ancient Greece; Spartan. -- n.

Expressing much in few words, after the manner of the Laconians or Spartans; brief and pithy; brusque; epigrammatic. In this sense laconic is the usual form. I grow laconic even beyond laconicism; for sometimes I return only yes, or no, to questionary or petitionary epistles of half a yard long. Pope. His sense was str…

Of or pertaining to the Spartan Partheniæ, or sons of unmarried women.

An officer in the Spartan army commanding fifty men. Mitford.

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

The practice of stealing; theft; thievishness. Among the Spartans, thievery was a practice morally good and honest. South.

A Spartan institution which prohibited strangers from residing in Sparta without permission, its object probably being to preserve the national simplicity of manners.