troop

plural troops

1. collectiveA collection of people; a number; a multitude (in general).

   That which should accompany old age — / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends — / I must not look to have.

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]

   1. collectivegovernmentA small unit of cavalry or armour commanded by a captain, corresponding to a platoon or company of infantry.
   2. collectivegovernmentA detachment of soldiers or police, especially horse artillery, armour, or state troopers.
   3. collectivein pluralgovernmentA group of soldiers; military forces.

      Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars.

      c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]

      2 more examples

      Ah, knovv you not the Citie fauours them, / And they haue troupes of Souldiers at their beck?

      c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 147, column 2

      His troops moved to victory with the precision of machines.

      1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

   4. collectivenonstandardactingA company of actors; a troupe.

      In order to form the new troop to a greater degree of perfection, the four principal actors were placed in the seminary of the cadets

      1784, William Coxe, Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark

   5. collectivescoutingA chapter of a national girl or boy scouts organization, consisting of one or more patrols of 6 to 8 youngsters each.

      Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell (1920), Aids To Scoutmastership, page 6: “It is the Patrol System that makes the Troop, and all Scouting for that matter, a real co-operative effort.”

2. broadlynonstandardgovernmentAn individual soldier or member of a military force; a trooper.

   2022, CNN, First Russian troop to speak out publicly against Putin’s war. Hear what he has to say (archived)

   2 more examples

   One American M48 was slightly grazed and one American troop lightly wounded.

   2018 August 8, Donald R. White, Death In a Lonely Place, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 82

   Although the mission failed, at least 5 ISIL militants were killed, however 1 American troop was wounded. According to the reports, Jordan had a role in the operation and that one Jordanian soldier had been wounded as well.

   (Can we date this quote?), Victor Grant-Lawrence, Conspiracy Theories And Stuff, Lulu.com, →ISBN

3. A group of animals.
   1. collectiveA group of primates (lemurs, monkeys and apes).
   2. collectiveA group of meerkat families living together.

      troop of meerkats is usually made up of two or three family groups.

      2011, Mammals of the Southern Hemisphere, Marshall Cavendish Reference, page 178

4. biologyA group of mushrooms that are close but not close enough to be called a cluster.
5. A particular roll of the drum; a quick march.

present singular third person troops · participle present trooping · participle past trooped · past trooped

1. To move in numbers; to come or gather in crowds or troops.

   Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

2. To march on; to go forward in haste.
3. To move or march as if in a crowd.

   The children trooped into the room.

plural Troops

1. A surname.