Phalanx /(?)/

pl. Phalanxes, Phalanges

1. A body of heavy-armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep. There were several different arrangements, the phalanx varying in depth from four to twenty-five or more ranks of men. (Gr. Antiq.)

   The Grecian phalanx, moveless as a tower.

2. 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.

   The sheep recumbent, and the sheep that grazed, All huddling into phalanx, stood and gazed.

3. A Fourierite community; a phalanstery.
4. One of the digital bones of the hand or foot, beyond the metacarpus or metatarsus; an internode. (Anat.)
5. A group or bundle of stamens, as in polyadelphous flowers. (Bot.)